Vegrandis Magister Ferociter
by KC Komicer
Summary: Negi has been sent by the Headmaster to attend the Annual Teacher's Conference to be held in another school far from Mahora Academy. There he shall meet some other people and learn of his special destiny. The original and not as good as Ansem's !
1. 1st Encounters

**_Seven will descend._**

_**Seven will bless.**_

_**Seven will bring forth new light.**_

_**And**_

_**Mankind will learn.**_

_Translated from an ancient scripture found at Fuuka _

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**Vegrandis Magister Ferociter**

_Komicer Productions_

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It is the break of the dawn and the sun is slowly rising, casting its gentle rays of warmth onto the deck of the cruise. A lone solitary figure, dressed in gym clothing stood in the stance of a veteran martial artist, kicking and punching into the air. He is a young boy, not even in his teens yet. 

This young martial artist is Negi Springfield, gifted magi, son of Nagi,probably the most popular teacher of Mahora Academy, despite being younger than his students and a natural magnet for trouble.

It is currently the year end semester holidays and there are no more classes to be held for now. Instead, Negi Springfield has been sent by the Headmaster to represent Mahora in the Annual Teacher's Convention, this time to be held at a Fuuka Academy. Takahata-sensei who has accompanied him as a guardian and colleague, has been a great traveling partner, introducing Negi to things he has never seen before and keeping him company. But at times like this, the wee hours of the morning when Negi would wake up, haunted once again by dreams of his past and his father that he truly feel alone.

Despite his maturity and power, Negi is after all still a child. He is by his own rights, still naïve and innocent to the way of the world. Takahata might be a fatherly figure to Negi but he is neither a good consoler nor confinee.

Negi finally sat down in tiredness, having completed his daily routine of warm-up exercises. Though he is far from his school and students, he still feels compiled to maintain his daily morning exercise. Plus it keeps his mind from wandering too much. It is only the first few days of his trip and he was already feeling somewhat lonely without the ever presence of his hyperactive students.

Negi leaned along the railings as the sea breeze blew gently across the deck of the cruise and gave a sign of loneliness. It was not that he disliked the cruise or the trip in any way. In fact he had enjoyed himself a lot these few days but he had been so used to traveling with his students that being away from them for even a couple of days seems long, let along one whole week. If he closed his eyes, he can still hear the faint encouragements and advices his beloved students gave him before he left.

He missed Ku Fei correcting his every stance as he practices. He missed the maternal presence of Asuna who also practice her sword fighting with Setsuna in the morning. He missed Nodoka and Konoka's cheers of encouragement. He even missed Evangeline's scolding.

"Oh, cheer up, Boss. I'm still with you." A white ermine climbed onto Negi's shoulder. "It's only for a week or two. Before you know it, you'll be back."

"Thanks, Chamo." Negi said to the ermine. Chamo has officially been Negi's pet since Negi saved him from his captors. Yet, in many ways, Chamo is Negi's teacher as much as Ku Fei and Evangeline. It is him who taught Negi all those extra skills and techniques that made today's Negi, Negi, even if it means lying to that innocent mind of Negi's. But he always remained loyal and gratuitous to his savior.

"Come on, Boss. It's time for breakfast." Chamo urged.

"All right," Negi replied and made his way back to the bunk to have a change of clothes. Then he made his way to the cruise restaurant.

Takahata was already at their table when Negi reached there. "Good morning, Negi-kun. Feeling better?" Takahata greeted the young teacher as he approaches.

"Good morning, Takahata-san. Thank you for your concern." Negi returned the greeting and sat down.

Takahata blew rings of smoke into the air as he stares at the gigantic electronic board at the wall. "Looks like we will be reaching port soon," He said to no one in general.

"Takahata-san," Negi asked in curiosity, "Have you ever been to this Teacher's Convention before?"

"Yes," Takahata replied with a smile, "Some people call it the Oscars for education, honoring the best within the academic field. It is quite an interesting event where you can meet many other teachers from other schools and exchange many ideas with them. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun there."

"Wow," Negi became interested. Despite his loneliness, he had still looked forward to attending this event. He has been told that he has even been nominated by the Headmater for a 'Rising Talent Award'. 'How proud the students will be if I won,' Negi thought to himself.

As Negi was lost in his daydream, Chamo was looking around in interest. Just because he is now an ermine meant that he had lost his human tastes. The amount of pretty girls aboard this cruise was nothing compared back at Mahora but it still provided plenty of eye candy. Somehow, girls are naturally attracted to Negi's boyish charms and hanging around him has allowed Chamo to get very close to them.

Just as he fantasized about that cute little girl over at the next table, he glance a white darting figure of a rabbit at the corner of his eyes. He quickly turned around but it was gone. 'Could it be… that coward?' Chamo wondered.

"Chamo. You're acting serious. Are you fine?" Negi asked in concern.

"Fine, Boss. Can I have your bacon?" Chamo quickly replied, dismissing that apparition of a rabbit as his own imagination due to hunger.

Later that day, Chamo pressed Negi into going to the pool. "After all, it is the holidays. You can afford to have some fun."

Just as Negi arrived at the pool, he was promptly stopped by the serious hulk of a lifeguard.

"Just what are you bringing here, kid! No pets allowed in the pool!" The lifeguard growled.

Negi had no choice but to leave Chamo outside the pool area. "No problem, Boss. I'm fine with this, really." Chamo told the apologizing Negi and scuttled away.

Before Negi can attempt 'Enter the pool, Round two', a loud, shrilling whistle halts him again. "Where did you think you are going, kid! That is the adults' pool!" The lifeguard shouted at Negi. Then Negi found himself unceremoniously led to small, wading pool with hardly any swimming space.

"Good little kids stay here and be safe!" The lifeguard said gruffly and left, leaving a very disappointed Negi behind.

Negi walked into the wading pool and realized with increasing disappointment that the pool was too shallow to even tread water, let alone swim. He unhappily lowered him and sat on the floor, blowing bubbles onto the surface.

"What a gorilla! Why do they even call this a pool?"

Negi found himself agreeing that, and then he realized that he was not alone in this pool.

Looking around, he realized that the voice belonged to a sulking girl who is also sitting in the pool. Kicking the shallow water in frustration, she cussed the lifeguard, calling him names. Negi found himself listening to what this girl had to say, nodding with agreement to every word.

Despite his well-mannered nature, Negi started to look at the girl in interest. Her pinkish-blond hair tied to the back in a bun. Her navy-blue school swimsuit with her name displayed on it. 'So her name is Miyamoto…' Negi thought to himself, 'She is quite cute.'

Before he knew it, Negi had spoken his very thoughts. The girl known as Miyamoto got interrupted from her chain of cusses and looked to Negi's direction. She finally noticed that she was been looked at.

"Uhm… Hi," Negi ventured a greeting as he blushed, embarrassed with his ill manners.

She just scowled at Negi, "What are you looking at?" Before Negi could reply, she stood up. With a huff, she said, "It is bad enough to be in a kiddy pool, let alone being with a hentai who stares." Then she strides off, leaving Negi alone in the pool.

There is something about this girl that attracted Negi. Perhaps it is the fact that despite his constant exposure to girls, almost all of them are older than him. This is the first time he gets up close with someone his age. Perhaps he saw similarities between themselves, both of them being foreigners and forced into a situation they did not enjoy. Or maybe he found her foul temper interestingly attractive. Or simply that this little girl had looked very cute pouting in the pool with all the indignancy in the world.

Negi gave a sign of disappointment, he would have liked to speak to the girl or even make friends with her. Now that she had left, there was no point staying in the wading pool. He decided to get changed and return to the cabin to rest.

On his way back, just as he walking past a room, he heard a shrill scream of "Eeekkk!" coming from within.

Negi, not one to leave a troubled soul in a lurch, quickly burst into the room.

Immediately after the door opened, a white figure jumped onto his shoulder.

"Boss! Run for it!" The familiar voice of Chamo urged Negi. "Oh, it was only you, Chamo. What are you doing here?", Negi said, somewhat relieved, then he noticed that in Chamo's mouth hung a small piece of white clothing.

"Panties?", Negi blushed at the sight of it, "Chamo, what have you been do…ing?" The relevance of this had begun to sink into him. He finally took a look at his surroundings, and before him stood what some would call a sight between heaven and hell.

It was the girl from the pool before, Miyamoto as Negi knew her. She was half-dressed, her swimsuit stripped to her waist, trying to cover up what breasts she had with her arms, her face crimson red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

She raised a trembling finger at him. "You again…" She said, but could not continued, her voice and body shaking with anger.

Negi knew he was in big trouble. He had to do something before the misunderstanding get any worse. He took the panties from the protesting Chamo and held it gingerly in his hands before him.

"Err… I… think this… uhmm… this belongs to you…. I'm… terribly sorry for what my…. ermine has done…" he said as he tried as much as possible to avoid looking at the trembling sight before him.

There was no response.

Negi took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then he starts to walk forward with his arms and the accidental booty stretched in front of him. "Here, please take it back…" He offered as he approaches Miyamoto.

"I'm warning you….Don't… come closer…. Stay there…" He heard Miyamoto said.

Negi paused. "But…"

Then he heard footsteps approaching him. 'Yes, she accepts my apologies.' He thought gladly, 'Perhaps there is still a chance of becoming friends.'

"Don't… move… I'm going to… take my…. My thing back." Negi heard the voice of Miyamoto.

"Here! No offences, I hope." Negi eagerly thrust the panties out and took a step forward.

Before he knew it, he had stepped on something and fell forward with a shout. A scream accompanied his fall.

"That hurts." Negi mumbled painfully and realized that he had fallen on something soft. He felt around with his hand. He heard a gasp of surprise. It felt soft, very unlike the floor he was walking on just a while ago.

He had a very bad feeling about it. He ventured a peek from his eyes and saw that he had fallen on Miyamoto. Her hair had been undone, her long blond hair spread out behind her. Her arms were no longer at her breasts, hiding it from view; instead they lay at her sides. Negi was so close to her that he can smell the chlorine from the pool previously. He did not know what to say, and judging from her facial expression, neither did Miyamoto.

So both their faces became redder and redder as the silence between them grew.

Finally, Negi backed off slowly. "Uhmm… Are…are you okay?" He asked softly.

Miyamoto sat up and looked away, no longer attempting to hide anything anymore.

"Go away." Negi heard faintly.

"Err…" Negi struggled for words, perhaps to apologize once again, perhaps to console.

"Go away." The words grew louder.

"Uhmm…" Negi found himself slowly backing off to the door. He was feeling confused, embarrassed and very, very guilty.

Miyamoto turned furiously to glare at Negi. Her eyes red as tears flowed from them.

"Go away!" She wailed, sadness echoing in her cries.

"Sor…ry…" Negi tried to say as he moved closer to the door.

Miyamoto let loose a round of loud, angry 'Go away!' before she started sobbing loudly.

"Go away." This time softer, a plead.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!" Negi quickly said, grabbed Chamo and ran off, slamming the door behind him.

As Negi ran, he thought unhappily about the events that just past. He had done something very wrong and he knew it.

After a couple of turns, he finally stopped. He leaned against the wall and started to pant. He can still feel the soft body of Miyamoto against him and in his hands. It was not that things like this had not happened before. In fact it had occurred so many times during his misadventures with his class, he was almost used to it. He can no longer recall how many times he had accidentally blown off Asuna's clothes or saw her in the nude.

But, this time, it felt different. While in the past, he had always felt guilty and apologetic, this time he felt terrible, the guilt weighing down his heart like a rock.

Negi felt that he must go back to at least atone for the disfavor he had done for Miyamoto but he too knew that going back would only make things worse for her.

There was nothing he can do.

"Cheer up, Boss. It's not so bad. At least you gained something." Negi heard Chamo speak and glared at him. After all, Chamo was the whole reason why the incident occurred in the first place.

Then he noticed that Chamo was still holding on to those white panties.

"Oh, Chamo… why did you do it again?" Negi scolded Chamo in frustration.

"Well, Boss. At least now you have a reason to go back and get her." Chamo said.

Negi snatched the offending item from Chamo and looked at it with growing embarrassment and guilt. 'Yeah, I will have to go back and return this to her.' Negi thought.

'Maybe not today, and probably not tomorrow. But I will return this to her and properly apologize.' Negi vowed to himself.

With that, he walked back to the cabin. He would need to prepare himself for his inevitable meeting with Miyamoto again.

* * *

_End Chapter Point Five_

* * *

She continued to sob for some time before she finally wiped away her tears. 

'Come on, Rebecca. This is not you to do that.' Rebecca Miyamoto thought to herself as she sullenly continued her interrupted changing.

'You will fight back. Make that bastard pay for what he did.' She thought as the events slowly replayed in her minds again.

Rebecca Miyamoto. Born to an American father and a Japanese mother, she is a child genius who graduated from M.I.T. with triple majors at the tender age of ten. She enrolled as a mathematics teacher a year later at Momotsuki Academy and became the infamous 'chibikko-sensei' or 'Becky' as her students liked to call her.

Now she was on her way to Fuuka Academy to attend the Annual Teacher's Convention in which she had been nominated for the 'Rising Talent Award'. The teachers who were to be her guardians for the trip, Igarashi and Saotome were no where to be seen. Igarashi was probably drinking herself silly at the bar which Rebecca cannot enter and Saotome was probably exercising in the gym where Rebecca hates.

So with nothing to do, she decided to go for a swim, only to end up been escorted by the gorilla of a lifeguard to the wading pool. Rebecca sat in the pool sulking, feeling absolutely annoyed and bored.

Perhaps she had been spoilt too much. Even during her jungle trip to visit her professor, her students had insisted on tagging along for the wild ride. Now, left truly alone, without the lively presence of her eccentric students, she could not find anything to do. She even missed those never-ending calls of 'Becky', the appointed nickname for her by the students that she had started out disliking.

She heard a splash as someone enters the pool beside her. She ignored it, probably just another kid.

"What a gorilla! Why do they even call this a pool?" she cussed to no one, as she kicked the pool water, sending water droplets splashing everywhere.

"Lower life-form! Idiot! Nincompoop," Rebecca continued, feeling better already.

"Stupid King Kong!" she cussed as she kicked the pool again.

"So her name is Miyamoto…She is quite cute." Rebecca heard and turned her head to the one who spoke it.

Before her, sat a young foreign boy with spectacles and orange hair tied to the back. He had just realized he had spoken his thought out loud and blushed. "Uhm… Hi" he greeted Rebecca.

Rebecca scowled and retorted, "What are you looking at?" She was just getting rolling and she had disliked being interrupted, even if it was by this boy which she admittedly found quite cute.

Without giving the boy time to reply, Rebecca decided to leave and stood up. "It is bad enough to be in a kiddy pool, let alone being with a hentai who stares," she confirmed with herself. She had had enough of the wading pool, maybe she should just go back to the cabin and sleep. Then, she strides off, back to her cabin.

Back at the cabin, Rebecca undid her hair and started to dry herself with a towel. Throwing the wet towel onto the floor, she opened her drawers and took out her lucky panties and pajamas, laying them out on the floor. She was happily looking forward to a good nap. Perhaps she would have some happy dreams.

She begun to change, taking off the top of the swimsuit. Just as she was about to strip off the swimsuit, Rebecca heard a scurrying sound. Looking towards the sound, she saw a white rodent trying to approach her.

For a while, Rebecca just stared at the rodent that had seemed have discovered that his presence had been detected. Then she did what most girls would have done when they saw a rodent, she screamed.

"Eeekkk!"

The rodent quickly grabbed her lucky panties in his mouth and ran for the door.

Rebecca was about to give chase when the door burst opened and someone entered. She realized that it was the foreign boy at the pool. The rodent leaped onto his shoulder.

She swore that she heard the rodent said, "Boss! Run for it!" but there are more urgent matters to look to than a talking rodent. Rebecca had realized that she was standing half-naked before a boy. Luckily she had not totally taken off the swimsuit. She quickly covered her exposed breasts with her arms. She can feel her face growing redder and redder out of anger and embarrassment.

The boy had not seemed to notice her presence but was in fact talking to the rodent. Then, he discovered the rodent's booty and blushed. He looked around and finally noticed where he was and who stood before him.

Now, Rebecca was feeling her anger rising, the rodent had actually belonged to this perverted boy. He was probably responsible for the incident. She raised a trembling finger at him, trying to accuse him.

"You again…", she started but could not continue, out of anger.

The boy was blushing madly as he took her panties away from the ermine and held it before him. "Err… I… think this… uhmm… this belongs to you…. I'm… terribly sorry for what my…. ermine has done…" he stuttered as he tried to look away.

Rebecca did not know how to response. She had been so sure of his responsibility that she was about to launch her verbal assaults at him. His obvious embarrassment and hesitation had indicated his non-involvement and made her confused.

The boy took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then with his arms extended before him, he started to move towards Rebecca. "Here, please take it back…" he said.

Rebecca looked around frantically, this was unexpected by her. While she had understood his intentions, she was still scared, confused, angry and embarrassed. She then noticed that the boy was about to step on the slippery towel left on the floor.

"I'm warning you….Don't… come closer…. Stay there…", she warned the approaching boy who did not had the sense to at least study the surroundings before attempting to do a blind walk.

"But…" the boy said. Rebecca decided to walk forward. Might as well quickly retrieve her panties and get him out of the room earlier. "Don't… move… I'm going to… take my….," she hesitated for a while, "my thing back."

The boy smiled. Rebecca knew that usually boys would rather be taking in as much of the sight as possible before getting chased out; this boy has acted as much like a gentleman as situation allowed.

'Maybe,' Rebecca thought, 'I'll asked him to wait outside later so that I can properly talk to him.''

Then the boy said, "Here! No offences, I hope." He thrust the panties out and took a step forward.

Onto the slippery towel.

And fell forward.

Onto Rebecca.

As the boy shouted in surprise, Rebecca screamed in accompany as he brought her down on the floor with him. Before she knew it, the boy was on top of her, pinning her down flat on the floor.

"That hurts." She heard him mumbled. Then he moved his hand about, trying to feel for his location. As his hand felt her breast, she gasped in surprise. Whatever good impression Rebecca had of this boy had been overturned and once again, he was an evil hentai hell-bent on taking advantage of her.

The boy finally opened his eyes and looked at her. Both their eyes met. Rebecca had no idea on what to say or how to react. All she could feel was panic, anger, confusion, an entire melting pot of intense emotions.

Those minutes of silence felt like hours as they stayed in their position, faces growing redder.

The boy finally made the first move by slowly backing off.

"Uhmm… Are…are you okay?" Rebecca heard him asked gently.

Rebecca sat up and looked away from him. She no longer tried to cover her breasts. After all, he has already seen it all and even felt it. There was no point anymore. She felt anger but she was just too tired, too confused to go with it.

"Go away." She said softly. She could only muster enough energy to say so.

"Go away." She repeated before the boy can respond. She felt hot tears streaming from her eyes.

She heard him stutter for words again. Why won't he just go away and leave her alone? She did not even respond with violence as she knew she should. All she wanted now is to be left alone.

She turned and glared at the offending boy. "Go away!" She wailed.

The boy was already moving closer to the door. "Sor…ry…" he tried to say.

"Go away! Go away! Go away! Go away! Go away! Go away!" Rebecca screamed at him before she finally broke down into tears.

"Go away.", she pleaded for the last time.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it!", the boy said quickly. In her tears-blurred vision, Rebecca saw the boy grabbed the rodent and ran off, slamming the door behind him. Sounds of running footsteps grew fainter and fainter.

She was once again alone.

When Rebecca finally regained control of herself and got changed, the sun was setting. She just sat on the bed, silently contemplating her next course of action. She will extract revenge on the insolent boy, he had came, taken advantage of her and gone, and her lucky panties were missing, probably still in his hands.

'How,' she thought, 'How?' This cruise was the only place she knew he will be but it will soon reach the next port where she will have to alight to go to Fuuka Academy.

At that moment, the door burst open and Saotome entered, carrying Igarashi behind him. Igarashi was once again in a drunken stupor.

"Come on, Saotome… Sing with me….hic… What is the… malted hic ", Igarashi sang out-of-tune and tried to goad the gym teacher along.

"You are drunk, Miyuki-san." Saotome complained and he struggled to lift her back to the bed.

"Good evening, Miyamoto-san" he greeted Rebecca, "Please take care of this drunk." as he laid Igarashi down onto the bed.

"Barman, I want another one of your best." Igarashi murmured and then proceed to start snoring.

"Sometime, I wonder who is the older one, you or her," Saotome tried unsuccessfully to joke with Rebecca and looked at her. Then he noticed Rebecca's bloodshot eyes.

He quickly knelt down and looked closer. "Miyamoto-san, have you been crying? Who did this to you?" he asked out of concern.

"It's okay." Rebecca assured Saotome. She smiled faintly at him. She had felt better with the presence of the older teachers with her. While intellectually, they might not be smarter than her, but they had been her de-facto guardians for this trip and they, even Igarashi to a certain extent had shown her care and concern like her parents overseas.

"We got a convention to attend soon. So I got no time for now. So he will pay for it later." She said it with her smile switching to a devious one. She knew that Saotome knew that she was plotting something up her sleeves. She could see him shiver in fear for a moment.

"At least you seem fine." He said, "Don't go overboard." Then he left the cabin for his own.

Rebecca listened to the rhythmic snoring of Igarashi and thought for a while. That boy will get it from her eventually. All she need is an opportunity. First she would have to calm down and use her brain against him. After all, he is only little boy, not like he can use magic or anything.

With that, she lied down onto the bed. She will need to prepare herself for her inevitable meeting with that boy again.

"I wonder where Mesousa is?", she wondered.

* * *

_End Chapter One_

* * *

Mesousa was scared. He was always scared. But this time, he was SCARED. 

He had noticed to his horror that Chamo was on board of the cruise and was lucky to have narrowly been discovered by him.

'If not for his hare-brained schemes,' Mesousa paused for a while to contemplate of the irony of his thought, 'we could still be humans.'

Ever since that fateful day, Mesousa had lived as a cowardly rabbit, always sobbing his fate. Years had made him accept the fact that he can no longer enjoy the delights of being human, such as fingers but that did not mean he cannot cry over the spilt milk.

He had since split up with Chamo and found himself in the companion of Rebecca Miyamoto. She had called him her companion but that did not stop her for treating him like a slave and asking him to do the ridiculous, like fighting a giant baby.

During that fight in which the baby shrunk back to her original size, he had wondered if perhaps his lost magic had returned to him, but somehow no one seemed to remember the incident and life as a sobbing rabbit went on as usual.

Currently, he is hiding himself in the boiler room of the cruise in order to avoid Chamo. He figured that he could probably re-unite with Rebecca someday in the future, if he was lucky that she had not forgotten about him first.

'I will be left alone again on board of the cruise,' Mesousa sobbed, 'Curse you, Chamo. Why do you appear again and torment me so?"

Just then, the door burst opened. Mesousa quickly covered his mouth to muffle his scream, tears of fear streaming from his eyes.

A tall figure stepped in, darkness shrouding his features. He looked around for the presence of people. Then, he shouted, "I know you are there. Come out now."

Mesousa started to shake in fear. Scary…. His brain froze with only that thought. Even more tears of fear streamed out. He wondered if there was heaven for cowardly rabbits.

Just then, another figure materialized from the shadows and stepped forward.

"Very good. You notice my presence. You are John Smith, I presume." The new figure spoke with a deep, German accent.

Mesousa's brain was now going into overdrive, he was scared witless. All this time, he had never noticed this new figure who was supposed to be here.

"Yes. And you must be Garf Wilhelm Josef von Herrman. We, from the SEARRS Foundation welcome you to the Golden Millennium. We would like to hire your service." The John Smith spoke with an American accent.

"Call me Garf Wilhelm. My full name is quite a mouthful, don't you think so? I will be of service, if the price is right," Garf Wilhelm said.

"Oh, we have just the price for you…" John Smith replied confidently.

Mesousa never heard what came next. He had already fainted.

* * *

_End Chapter One Point One_

_To be continued_

* * *

Updated: 29 May 2007 

Ah, my maiden work. Re-reading it is both a nostalgic and frankly, somewhat embarassing moment for myself. So it has been one year already. Apparently it's a case study for Pani Poni Dash fanfictions now. Whee! Most honored.

It is interesting to see for myself, how much my style has changed, or not changed within one year. It is not the best even if I suspect, it will become the work that defines the rest of my fanfiction writing 'career'. It had been fun while it lasted. And I hope that you as the reader would enjoy this for all its pros and flaws for what it is. Thank you.

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This is the first time I am attempting any fanfictions of sorts. My main experiences lies in non-fiction, research-based writings and anime-related reviews.

While I do try to remain loyal to the sources as much as possible, especially for the characters of Negi and Becky, I can only do so to the best extent of my knowledge. In other words, if I already knew, I will follow; if not, it will be subjected to my creative liberties to play around with the possibilities. So please pardon my ignorance and any straying from the original material.

I must add that I got this idea before SHAFT (Anime studio that did Pani Poni Dash!) got Negima. Hopefully, this work will one day be made into a drawn and published doujin. There will be more to come, I kind of predicted around seven VERY long chapters, given the fact that the story gets repeated twice from two different point of views.

I was hoping to find some people to share some ideas and do a bit of pre-editing. Interested people may contact me via email.

Go ahead and give criticisms or suggestions on story progression! Thanks for reading.


	2. Sweet Revenge

None of the characters belong to me. Darn it!

* * *

"Welcome to Fuuka, I hope you will enjoy your stay here," the uniformed girl greeted Rebecca and her traveling companions as they alighted from the cruise. She had been easy to spot since she held a gigantic sign that welcomes those who came to attend the Annual Teacher's Convention. Other participants have already gathered and are directed by the students of Fuuka Academy to the pre-arranged living quarters. 

It was the next day after the incident and Rebecca was still plotting her revenge on that boy. The chances might be low, considering that she had alight the cruise but there was always luck. For now, she had no choice but to look forward to the Teacher's Convention.

"My name is Aoi and I will be your guide to Fuuka Academy," the pleasant girl continued her greeting. She knelt down to Rebecca's face level. "My, my, what a cute little girl. Are you this gentleman's daughter?" Aoi referred to Saotome.

"No, lower life-form. I am a teacher attending the convention," Rebecca replied without much of a thought.

Aoi looked visually surprised and taken aback by the revelation and the apparent rudeness. For a while, the temperature felt like it went down a couple of degrees. Sensing the brewing trouble, Saotome quickly moved to defuse the situation.

"Aoi-chan, why don't you lead us to the living quarters?" Saotome asked while he flashed a glare at the sulking Rebecca.

Aoi regained her composure and waved her hand in a direction. "Your living quarters will be in a hostel located within the Academy. Please proceed this way." Then, she walked in that direction, followed closely by Rebecca, Igarashi and Saotome who had been made to carry everyone's luggage.

Along the way, Aoi introduced the locale to the teachers, including the uninterested Rebecca. Currently she was telling the older teachers about the discoveries during a recent archeological dig around the region. Rebecca was lost in her own thought when she heard Aoi mentioned the discoveries of an old prophecy scripture.

"What does it say?", Rebecca asked curiously. Since her previous professor was an avid archeologist, she had also learned to appreciate archeology somewhat.

"It claimed that for every generation of mankind, seven guardians will descend to bless mankind with hope and create miracles. But then again, this is only a legend from the past and the professors have said not to take them seriously like what they did with that myth of the twelve princesses." Aoi replied, "Here we are."

Before them was a hostel, not a bad looking one but not exactly the five-star hotel that Rebecca had in mind.

"Wah… what happened to the hotel?" The spoilt brat whined.

"Did I ever mention 'hotel'?" Aoi answered coldly. Then she switched back to her warm, welcoming voice to address the two older teachers, "I'm sorry but this hostel is the best Fuuka Academy has to accommodate the hundreds of participants arriving for the convention. Facilities such as bars or gyms can be found in the nearby town."

She turned to Saotome and said, "Due to rules and regulations, males have a separate living arrangement, sorry for the inconvenience caused and please follow me." She gave Igarashi a key with a number tag, bided farewell and led Saotome away.

It took Rebecca and Igarashi quite some time to move their luggage to their designated room. The room had all the basic facilities necessaries. Bathroom; kitchen; living room that also doubles as a bedroom.

"It's pretty homely. Cheer up, Miyamoto-chan. With room service, this would have been a hotel," Igarashi patted Rebecca at the back. "Come on. The convention will start this evening, then with that away, we got a one whole week paid holiday!" She then went on to search the directory provided for the bars in the region, leaving Rebecca alone to ponder about her next step of action.

Soon evening came and it was time to attend the Convention. "Hurry up, Miyamoto-san! The convention starts in twenty minutes time!" Rebecca heard Saotome shout from downstairs.

"Coming!" Rebecca shouted back impatiently. Lost in her thoughts, she had totally forgotten to dress up and is now trying to put on the evening dress her sister had chosen for her as quickly as possible. She looked in the mirror and quickly tied her hair into a ponytail and then she left, locking the door behind her.

"Did you bring everything?" Saotome asked as Rebecca descended from the stairs. He was for once not in the gym attire but in an evening suit, looking very uncomfortable.

"Yeah, Igarashi already took the keys before she left." Rebecca replied as they walked briskly to the Fuuka Convention Hall.

Once inside, they saw Igarashi waving at them from their designated seats. She too was dressed in an evening suit. They quickly pushed their way through the thronging crowd to their seats. It felt like the entire population of teachers from Japan had come, the noise of discussion was everywhere, from comparing of students to complaining of daily issues. "The girl challenged everything! She even sent our history teacher screaming away, he resigned the next day! No one dared to teach that class!" "Yukari-chan, that is the last time I let you drive." "…devoted my thirty-five years of life to education, never had a boyfriend…"

After a while, the lights dimmed and the conversions soften along with it. The spotlight focused onto the stand as a girl with long black hair and a boy with orange, barely combed hair came onto the stage.

"Good evening, teachers from all around Japan. My name is Natsuki," The girl announced through the microphone.

"And my name is Tate," The boy added. "We are the student executive body of Fuuka Academy and we are honored to welcome all of you to our humble school for the Annual Teachers' Convention."

Rebecca hardly paid attention; the only reason for her attendance was for the 'Rising Talent Award' and everything else did not matter so much.

The two hosts engaged in small talk, invited a pink-haired female, their Headmaster to present a speech, even more small talk, then they begun presenting the awards.

Finally the moment came.

"Thank you, Onizuka-sensei for that … uhm … interesting speech. Please give another round of applause for our 'Most Inspiring Teacher' recipient." Natsuki said as applause erupted for the punk of a teacher as he walked off stage.

"In the field of education, we are always looking out for new dedicated teachers to take over the mantle of the previous generation," Tate spoke to the audience. "That is why we have this particular award."

"This award honors the newly recruited teachers for their hard work, dedication and potential," Natsuki continued, "Let us view the nominees for the 'Rising Talent Award'"

On the television screen, the gigantic words 'Rising Talent' appeared followed by video of the nominees and their names. Rebecca looked disinterestedly as faces of teachers she did not know or care for flashed across the screen to the announcement of the hosts.

"Sora Hitomi from Kashima High School, teaches Life Science. Uhm… Great Teacher Largo from Shiritsu Daitou High School, teaches English," Natsuki read from the nominee list.

"And two surprise entries," Tate continued, "Our last two nominees are both very young, in fact they are not even in their teens,"

"Younger than us," Natsuki asked in false surprise.

They probably scripted this part, Rebecca thought boredly. She knew they were referring to her.

"Yes," Tate laughed, "Looks like we'll have to study harder now. And our last two nominees are Negi Springfield from Mahora Academy, teaches English and Rebecca Miyamoto from Momotsuki Academy, teaches Mathematics!"

Their pictures appeared on the screen followed by video filming of parts of their lessons.

Rebecca took a casual glance at the screen before she let out a loud exclamation of surprise. "What!" she shouted as she recognized that bespectacled youth on the screen. It was that boy that took advantage of her.

Somewhere else, she also heard another shout of "What!" that she recognized as the voice of the boy.

The Convention Hall became silent as all the heads turned towards the two who shouted. Rebecca started to feel pressured by the thousand pairs of eyes looking in her direction.

After a moment of silence, the quick thinking Tate took the microphone and said, "And there they are, our younger-than-life teachers. Please stand up and take a bow."

Rebecca slowly stood up and bowed stiffly. Then she turned her head to see the offending figure. Negi Springfield had also stood up. He noticed her look and tried to wave back.

Rebecca glared back at him and Negi's hand stopped in mid-wave. Then she sat down with a huff.

"This is my chance," Rebecca's brain was going into overdrive. "If I win, I will use the chance to expose that little hentai to the rest of the teaching community. Ruin his career! Yes!"

"But that would mean telling everyone that he… touched me…" Rebecca now found herself in a dilemma. That incident was nothing something she was proud of. "Should I do it?"

"And now let us announce the results. The 'Rising Talent Award' goes to…." Natsuki spoke.

Both hosts looked at the little card they had.

"Great Teacher Largo from Shiritsu Daitou High School!" They announced at the same time.

As a foreign red-haired guy went up the stage, Rebecca was secretly glad about it. She did not know if she should be disappointed of losing the chance or relieved that she did not need to make the decision. At least she now knew something about her revenge target.

Shouts of 'KNOWL3DG3 IS POW3R!' could be heard from the stage. "It's okay," Rebecca heard Igarashi.

She turned to the elder teacher as Igarashi continued, "You may be disappointed but there is always next time."

"I am not disappointed," Rebecca whined. Then she felt a hand on her head.

It was Saotome. "The chance will come again. Perhaps you can aim for something even better. But to us, you are our Rising Talent."

"Take your hands off," Rebecca said coldly. But deep inside her, she was kind of glad that the two elder teachers had tried to consoled and encouraged her. Now that she knew that this Negi Springfield would also be around Fuuka, her plan for revenge had a point to start from. She felt better already.

"That's our Miyamoto," Saotome laughed as he removed his hand.

After that, the Convention soon came to a close.

"And we have come to an end of the Convention. To cater to our infamously alcoholic teachers, the after-convention party will be held at Club Congabongo located a couple of blocks away from the school. While having a good time, please remember not to get too drunk," Natsuki reminded the anticipating audience.

"We have had arranged a tour of our Fuuka Academy tomorrow for all. Those who wish to participate, please turn up at the pavilion in the flower garden at ten AM. And we wish you all a pleasant night. Good bye," Tate concluded the event and both hosts waved the audience farewell before retreating backstage.

"Let's go!" Igarashi cheered enthusiastically and got ready to leave for Club Congabongo.

Everyone else around them also started rising from their seats and to leave the hall. Under the urging of Igarashi, the Momotsuki representatives were ushered quickly out of the hall and after walking some distance to Igarashi's cheerful singing, they reached Club Congabongo.

At the entrance, Igarashi was admitted into the night club. Followed by Saotome. When it was Rebecca's turn, the bouncer stopped her.

"Can I see your age proof!" The bouncer who sports an eerily similar look as the lifeguard at the cruise pool bellowed.

Before Rebecca could response, the bouncer had shoved her gently aside. "Underage minors not allowed in the bar!" he grunted before he continued to serve the others in the growing queue.

'Denied again,' Rebecca thought annoyed. Then she went across the road and found a kerb to sit down. Since the key to the hostel room was with Igarashi, she could not do anything but wait for Igarashi to come out. She got no choice but to wait and look sulking as people after people were allowed entry into the bar.

"Errr…. May I sit here?" She heard someone asked. Looking up, she realized to her surprise that the one asking was that Negi Springfield. She found herself at a loss of words.

Seeing that there was no response, that Negi sat down anyway. "I got rejected by the bouncer too…" he laughed, "and since neither of us got the 'Rising Talent Award', it seemed that we have the same fate…" His tone sounded like he was nervous enough to attempt such a bad joke.

'Here is the chance. It is payback time,' Rebecca was thinking as she stare at the nervous yet innocent face of Negi, 'What do you want him to do?'

"Uhm… You know… about that incident in the cruise…" Negi finally went into the topic both of them had been pondering about, "I… am terribly sorry about… that." He blushed.

'Yeah,' Rebecca thought, 'and what will you do now?'

"I am willing to do anything to make up for my misdeed," Negi continued, "Please forgive me!" he clapped his hands together before his face and bowed.

"Anything?" Rebecca heard herself say, a devious grin, like that of the Cheshire Cat appearing on her face. She had just thought of a plan.

"As long as… it won't hurt anyone…" Negi said slowly, looking at that growing grin with dread in his eyes.

"Be my personal slave," Rebecca said.

"Wha.." Negi tried to react.

"Do whatever I command," Rebecca continued, cutting off what Negi had wanted to say.

Negi still looked somewhat unsure. Rebecca decided to try the heavy artillery, she let the eyes start to water and a single tear flowed elegantly down to her cheek. Then she looked at Negi with those tears-brimmed eyes.

A look of guilt washed over the face of Negi. Without hesitation, he answered, "Yes, Miyamoto-sama."

Mission accomplished, Rebecca wiped off the tears and pointed to Club Congabongo in triumphant.

"Let us enter where no child has entered before!" She announced haughtily.

They went into the back alley under the cover of the new moon. Crossing dustbins, black cats, graffiti-filled brick walls, they finally reached the back of the club. Rebecca was brimming with excitement while Negi was filled with nervousness.

"Will you stop looking so nervous? You will give the game away once we entered," Rebecca scolded her obedient slave. "Remember, I am posing as that famous midget teacher, Mika Suzuki. You…" She paused to think of a midget male teacher, "will have to think of your own excuse." She gave up.

"There could have been robbers here, you know. It is very reckless of us to just walk around the back," Negi said while still keeping a wary eye of the surroundings.

"Relax, slave. I'm sure they will do us no harm," Rebecca dismissed the threat confidently. 'After all, I have been known to insult armed robbers to tears before,' she reasoned with herself.

Then, they grandly enter the club via the back door, like they had all the right to do so.

The sight inside was new to them. The dance floor was crowded with people dancing as wild carnival of lights moved everywhere around the dimly lit room. There was a bar counter at the corner of the place with a bartender who swung the various alcohol bottles around with dexterity of an acrobat, ever entertaining and polite as he greets the new customer to give them a drink. Cheers and laughter filled the air.

"Wow." Negi exclaimed in awe. But Rebecca had no time for sight-seeing. Scanning the surrounding carefully, she sighted Saotome trying to control Igarashi at a far end of the bar. A group of other alcoholic female teachers were also there cheering Igarashi on as she downed another jug of beer. Rebecca made a mental note to avoid that side of the bar.

"No one seemed to have noticed us yet," Rebecca said to Negi, "Let's try out some of the drinks." She pulled the passive Negi along to a vacant table. She was enjoying her act of rebellion, everything here was new to her and she wanted to try as much as possible.

"Slave! Go and get us some drinks! I want something fruity!" she ordered Negi.

"Miyamoto-sama, aren't we too young to drink?" Negi asked.

"No questions, just go!" Rebecca repeated her orders.

"Yes, Miyamoto-sama!" Negi quickly ran towards the bar counter.

'This is fun,' Rebecca thought as she waited for Negi to return. 'What else should I ask him to do?"

After some time, noticing that Negi had yet to return, Rebecca decided to take things to her own hand. Striding towards the bar counter, she saw Negi with his hand stretched out towards the surprised looking bartender.

'Great, he thinks he is a Jedi,' Rebecca fumed as she approaches Negi.

"What took you so long!" she scolded Negi and turned towards the bartender.

Using her best adult voice, she said, "I am Mika-sensei. I want two… er…" she quickly took a quick look on the menu, "two fruit punch delight!"

The bartender turned his attention to Rebecca and raised an eyebrow. "I thought I just served a Mika-sensei just moment ago. You looked a bit too young to be here…"

Rebecca quickly replied with hurt in her voice, "Are you being sizest? I cannot help if I am born small. That bouncer-san let us in after all."

The bartender looked at her suspiciously but decided to just serve her anyway. "Two fruit punch delight, 'Mika-sensei'" as he gave her two dainty wine glasses with fizzy green liquid in it.

"Thank you, young man," Rebecca took the drinks and went back to the seats with Negi.

"Come, a toast to our success." Rebecca flaunted the newly-acquired drinks at Negi. Negi sat down and asked critically, "Are you sure you want to drink?" He lowered his voice, "We're both underaged."

"Who cares," Rebecca dismissed it. "I'm older than you too." She added.

"Only by half a year," Negi retorted in a boyish concern about age seniority. He took a glass of the fruit punch delight and took a sniff.

Rebecca took a closer look at her 'fruit punch delight'. She had chosen it because it had sounded the least alcoholic of all the drinks. Having seen the drunken Igarashi so many times, she had no wish to be in that stage but she had wanted to try it out at least once. She figured that one gulp probably would not cause her to become drunk.

"To health," she said as she raised the dainty cup to her lips like in the movies. She could see Negi's eyes grew wider as he tried to say something. Then, someone knocked at her from behind. What was meant to be a little sip became much larger as the entire content of the cup flowed into Rebecca's mouth.

"Sorry," she heard a voice said automatically as she tried to cough out as much of the foul-tasting liquid as possible. The fruit punch delight did had a bit of a fruity taste to it but most of it taste of alcohol that Rebecca learned instantly that she hated. It was too late as most of the liquid had gone down her throat.

She started to feel a bit hot and slightly light-headed. 'Is this why Igarashi liked drinks? Because of this weird feeling?' Rebecca thought as she vaguely remembered Negi approached her.

There was some shouting, some movement, some… something. She remembered Negi lifting her, herself saying something… something…. Some…

* * *

_End Chapter One Point Five_

* * *

Negi looked at the rabbit; at least 'rabbit' seemed to be the most fitting species for this animal before him. He was on his way back to the cabin after the incident when passing by the kitchen; he noticed the kitchen staff holding it up. 

Chamo had urged him with unusual seriousness to rescue the rabbit. It seemed that they had found him unconscious in the boiler room and was discussing how to best cook it. After some negotiations, Negi was allowed to bring the rabbit back to his cabin.

The rabbit only came back to conscious the next day, finding itself surrounded by Negi, Takahata and Chamo. Since it woke up till when they alighted from the cruise, it had been talking to Chamo in a trembling voice. Chamo seemed to be quite happy with meeting the rabbit.

Negi had also confined with Takahata about the incident on the cruise and asked for his advice. Takahata had laughed and then told Negi to 'be a man and follow his heart'. While Negi personally felt that was not much an advice, he had felt slightly better in confining with someone.

They had been led to their male hostel by a student representative of Fuuka who had along the way told them about the legends and the locale of Fuuka. Apparently, there was a recent archaeological excavation that revealed some old scriptures about an old local prophecy. Negi mentally made a note to visit the excavation site later after the convention.

The student had gushed over Negi, calling him a polite gentleman, quite unlike the bratty kid she had to put up with previously before leaving them to their own.

Finally after they settled down in the hostel, Negi released the rabbit and Chamo from their hiding place in his duffel bag. Mesousa, Chamo had called the rabbit. 'Sobbing Rabbit,' Negi mentally translated in his head, 'quite appropriate for him.'

Mesousa, Chamo had told Negi, went way back with him. They were buddies, partners in the past before they went separate ways due to ideological differences. One wonders what these two of so different personalities could have done in the past. The perverted, amoral Chamo and Mesousa, so timid that that he had only dared to say a single 'Thank you' to Negi in that trembling voice.

Putting that aside, Negi was still occupied with coming up a solution to make up for his misdeed to Miyamoto. The panties Chamo had stolen from her was sealed in a paper bag and still laid buried deep inside his bag. He had not told Takahata about the panties yet, it was too embarrassing.

It was almost time for the start of the Convention. Negi wore his robe and waited patiently for Takahata to get ready. Stepping out of the door, he saw another man with spiky, black hair stepped out of the opposite room. He was visibly uncomfortable with the evening suit he was wearing.

The man noticed Negi and came forward. Kneeling down, he asked, "Hey. You are also attending the Teacher's Convention?" Negi nodded.

"Ha!" The man laughed, "I also had a colleague about your age. She is running for the 'Rising Talent Award', perhaps you two young teachers will meet and get along just fine."

Negi had been surprised that this man had not exhibit any form of surprise when he knew that he was also a teacher. That explained it; the man was used to very young teachers.

"I am also running for 'Rising Talent Award'. Perhaps we might meet up later," Negi replied.

"What a small world it is," the man exclaimed, "Maybe you can meet my colleague later. I am Saotome from Momotsuki Academy, Gym teacher and you are?" He extends his hand.

"Negi Springfield, English teacher, Mahora Academy." Negi took Saotome's hand and shaked warmly.

"I got to go get my little colleague now. See you later." Saotome stood up and patted Negi's head before leaving in a jog.

Takahata came out of the room smelling faintly of the aroma of cigarettes.

"Let's go, Negi." He said.

Negi bidded Chamo and Mesousa one last good-bye and closed the door behind him.

Together, they left the hostel and took a walk to Fuuka Convention Hall. The hall was already packed with people. Teachers from various schools all around Japan had made their way here and bits and pieces of their conversations could be heard as Negi and Takahata made their way to their designated seats. "Have you heard of that girl, Yukari Hirai?" "Then my colleague went and ate the cookies that she gave me!" "Bloomers should be tucked in!"

After Negi and Takahata took their seats, soon the lights dimmed and the hall came to a silence. Two students came on stage and introduced themselves as Natsuki and Tate of the student executive body of Fuuka Academy. They were the hosts for the ceremony.

Negi watched the ceremony proceedings with interest. He had never seen so many teachers of different methods and styles but of a common goal together before. He hoped he would have the chance to have a talk with them later.

Finally, it was the moment he was waiting for. The hosts had just presented the award for 'Most Inspiring Teacher' and would be presenting the 'Rising Talent Award'.

"In the field of education, we are always looking out for new dedicated teachers to take over the mantle of the previous generation," Tate spoke to the audience. "That is why we have this particular award."

"This award honors the newly recruited teachers for their hard work, dedication and potential," Natsuki continued, "Let us view the nominees for the 'Rising Talent Award'"

On the television screen, the gigantic words 'Rising Talent' appeared followed by video of the nominees and their names. Negi clapped in appreciation as the names and photos of his fellow competitors flashed across the screen.

"Sora Hitomi from Kashima High School, teaches Life Science. Uhm… Great Teacher Largo from Shiritsu Daitou High School, teaches English," Natsuki read from the nominee list.

"And two surprise entries," Tate continued, "Our last two nominees are both very young, in fact they are not even in their teens,"

"Younger than us," Natsuki asked in surprise.

Negi knew that they were referring to him and the young colleague of Saotome. He looked at the giant screen with excitement.

"Yes," Tate laughed, "Looks like we'll have to study harder now. And our last two nominees are Negi Springfield from Mahora Academy, teaches English and Rebecca Miyamoto from Momotsuki Academy, teaches Mathematics!"

Their pictures appeared on the screen followed by video filming of parts of their lessons.

Negi looked in appreciation to the video filming of his lessons, the girls waving cheerfully in the background as he tries to rein them in for his English lesson. Then the significance of the other video dawned to him. He looked on, stunned as he recognized the pinkish-blond girl on the video trying to calm her much-older student to stop crying over a dead chick. She was Miyamoto, the unfortunate girl on the cruise.

"What!", He exclaimed in surprise. He also heard another "What!" came from another corner of the hall. He knew it belonged to Miyamoto.

Silence fell onto the hall as all the eyes looked towards the two exclaimers.

Takahata pointed to the girl on the screen and gave Negi a quizzical look. Negi knew that Takahata had figured out the reason for Negi's surprise.

Negi simply nodded sheepishly to confirm Takahata's suspicion. Takahata just smiled and patted his back, as if to congratulate Negi's conquest.

"And there they are, our younger-than-life teachers. Please stand up and take a bow," Negi heard Tate announced through the microphone.

Negi quickly stood up and bowed to the audience. Then he looked towards Miyamoto. She too had stood up and was staring at him. In a friendly gesture, he tried to wave to her.

Miyamoto returned with a fierce glare that stopped Negi's hand in mid-wave. Then she sat down with a huff.

Negi sat down unhappily. Making up for the incident would be harder than he thought. Miyamoto obviously had not forgotten the incident, let alone forgive him.

'Perhaps if I win the 'Rising Talent Award', I will apologize to her onstage. Maybe doing so would moved her.' Negi thought as he clenched his fist before him in determination.

He felt Takahata placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I know what you are thinking. Don't do it," Takahata said to Negi softly.

"But…" Negi tried to argue back.

"It would make things worse for her," Takahata said, "I'll explain to you later. They are about to announce the winner now."

"And now let us announce the results. The 'Rising Talent Award' goes to…." The voice of Natsuki echoed from the stage. The Mahora teachers brought their vision back to the stage.

Both hosts looked at the little card they had. Negi felt a tingle of anticipation run down his spine.

"Great Teacher Largo from Shiritsu Daitou High School!" They announced at the same time.

As a foreign red-haired guy went up the stage, Negi helved a sign of disappointment. Not so much that he had lost the award, but rather the lost of a chance, even if it was a chance that Takahata had discouraged, to apologize to Miyamoto.

Shouts of 'KNOWL3DG3 IS POW3R!' could be heard.

Beside Negi, Takahata started to talk. "You see, Negi, girls are quite a strange species. No amount of exposure will ever truly prepare you for them, even a constant daily exposure to thirty-one of them in class."

Negi looked to Takahata. Takahata had paused for a while to organize his thoughts.

"It may seem logical to us to apologize in a big bang fashion," he continued, "But you will never know how she would react. If you are lucky, she may think it rather romantic…" He smiled to himself at the reddening face of Negi. He had successfully guessed Negi's feeling.

"Chances are she herself will be very embarrassed by that incident. To announce it on stage, would be to tell everyone in this hall, more than half of the education field, the incident between the two of you, something that she might not want others to know of," he said.

"It could make things worse," he concluded.

Negi nodded in acknowledgement. He understood what Takahata was trying to tell him. He would have to try to get to Miyamoto in private. Perhaps he should get Saotome to arrange it for him.

Negi sat in silence for the rest of the evening, contemplating his next move.

Soon, the Convention came to a close.

"And we have come to an end of the Convention. To cater to our infamously alcoholic teachers, the after-convention party will be held at Club Congabongo located a couple of blocks away from the school. While having a good time, please remember not to get too drunk," Natsuki reminded the anticipating audience.

"We have had arranged a tour of our Fuuka Academy tomorrow for all. Those who wish to participate, please turn up at the pavilion in the flower garden at ten AM. And we wish you all a pleasant night. Good bye," Tate concluded the event and both hosts waved the audience farewell before retreating backstage.

Negi and Takahata waited for the hall to slowly empty before they too stood up.

"Come on," Takahata said, "Let's go to the after-convention party. Perhaps you might be able to find your chance there."

They walked in silence for quite some time before they reached the bar. They got into the queue and waited for their turn to enter. After a while, it was Negi's turn to enter.

The bouncer at the door stopped him. "How many times must I stop you minors from entering the bar!" he grumbled as he blocked Negi with a bulking arm.

Negi looked up at the imposing figure, the bouncer had an eerie resemblance to the lifeguard at the cruise pool.

"Nevermind," Takahata placed a hand on Negi's shoulder and whispered into his ears, "Look over there."

Negi looked across the street to where Takahata was referring to. A young girl was sulking on a kerb there. She was Miyamoto.

"Go, take your chance," Takahata said and gave Negi a little shove out of the queue.

Negi looked back as Takahata waved him off.

"All the best," he said as he entered the bar.

Negi looked to the bouncer who returned the look with a stare, then walked off hurriedly to Miyamoto.

As he walked, Negi mentally rehearsed all the possible words he could say to her. 'Sorry for the inconvenience caused?' Negi thought, 'No… Pleased to meet you? Arrgh…' No perfect word seemed to come to mind.

Before he knew it, he was before Miyamoto, feeling guilty like a boy caught cheating. He felt his legs tremble in nervousness. Miyamoto had not seemed to notice his presence yet. 'This is it. Just do it!' Negi urged himself.

Negi gathered his courage and asked, "Errr…. May I sit here?"

Miyamoto looked up in surprise and did not say anything.

Negi thought for a while and decided to sit down beside her. He tried to find something to talk about. Miyamoto's cold stare was unnerving him. "I got rejected by the bouncer too…" he tried to laughed, "and since neither of us got the 'Rising Talent Award', it seemed that we have the same fate…"

He looked at Miyamoto. There was no response as she just stared at him.

"Uhm… You know… about that incident in the cruise…" Negi decided to go straight into the subject, "I… am terribly sorry about… that." He blushed as he recalled the feel on his hands.

There was no answer, just a cold, hard stare. As if Miyamoto was trying to read his mind.

"I am willing to do anything to make up for my misdeed," Negi ventured on, "Please forgive me!" he clapped his hands together before his face and bowed.

"Anything?" he heard Miyamoto said with a tinge of malice in her voice.

"As long as… it won't hurt anyone…" Negi said slowly, looking up at the growing grin on her face with dread in his eyes. He was getting Evangeline-sensei vibes from her. Evangeline always had a similar smile when she was going to do something potentially nasty to him.

"Be my personal slave," Miyamoto said.

"Wha.." Negi tried to react. He sense that this might be leading to something bad to him.

"Do whatever I command," Miyamoto continued, cutting off what Negi had wanted to say.

Negi considered the order. Something still seemed wrong about this. Then he noticed Miyamoto's facial expression.

Her eyes watered and a single tear ran down her cheek. Her lips twitched as she gazed forlornly at Negi.

Negi was reminded of the aftermath of the incident. That was the face she had at that time too. Negi felt guilt overcoming whatever common sense he had.

"Yes, Miyamoto-sama.", he acknowledged her victory in her emotional blackmail.

Miyamoto wiped off the tears and pointed to Club Congabongo in triumphant.

"Let us enter where no child has entered before!" She announced haughtily.

They went into the back alley under the cover of the new moon. Crossing dustbins, black cats, graffiti-filled brick walls, they finally reached the back of the club. Miyamoto was brimming with excitement while Negi was filled with nervousness.

He had never liked going against rules and regulations. He had vaguely considered using the growth pills he had kept for emergencies, that way they could have just walked in from the front door. Then he remembered that he was not to reveal to others, those that did not already knew, of the presence of magic. The usage of magic was solely if there were no other choices.

"Will you stop looking so nervous? You will give the game away once we entered," Miyamoto scolded him. "Remember, I am posing as that famous midget teacher, Mika Suzuki. You…" She paused, "will have to think of your own excuse."

"There could have been robbers here, you know. It is very reckless of us to just walk around the back," Negi said while still keeping a wary eye of the surroundings. He was ready to fight any dangers back, if necessary, with magic.

"Relax, slave. I'm sure they will do us no harm," Miyamoto dismissed the threat with confidence in her voice.

Then, they grandly enter the club via the back door, like they had all the right to do so.

The sight inside was new to them. The dance floor was crowded with people dancing as wild carnival of lights moved everywhere around the dimly lit room. There was a bar counter at the corner of the place with a bartender who swung the various alcohol bottles around with dexterity of an acrobat, ever entertaining and polite as he greets the new customer to give them a drink. Cheers and laughter filled the air.

"Wow." Negi exclaimed in awe. This was the first time he had entered a real night club.

"No one seemed to have noticed us yet," Miyamoto said to Negi, "Let's try out some of the drinks." She pulled the passive Negi along to a vacant table.

"Slave! Go and get us some drinks! I want something fruity!" she ordered Negi.

"Miyamoto-sama, aren't we too young to drink?" Negi asked, hoping to appeal to her common sense.

"No questions, just go!" Miyamoto repeated her orders.

"Yes, Miyamoto-sama!" Negi quickly ran towards the bar counter. Negi just could not find himself arguing back to her.

Reaching the bar counter, Negi tried to put on his most mature look.

"Good evening… I would like two glasses of …." Negi stole a glance to the menu on top of the counter, "fruit punch delight!"

The bartender looked at Negi with suspicion. "You are underage, aren't you? That darn bouncer had let kids slipped past again."

With that, he turned around to use the telephone.

Negi knew he had been found out. There was no other choice. He would have to resort to magic.

He took a quick look around for anyone who might suspect his actions. Satisfied that no one would be paying attention to him, he shouted to the bartender, "No! Look at me!"

The bartender looked back at him with annoyance and saw Negi with a palm stretched out to him.

"_Quinque Minutes Memoria Makeover_." Negi murmured as he concentrated on the bartender. That should make the bartender think that he was serving the Mika-sensei instead, at least it should last for a while. Memory makeover was considered taboo within the magical society, to be used only for emergencies.

"Look, child. Jedi mind trick does… not work…" The bartender started to look unsure with himself as new temporary memories entered his mind.

"What took you so long!" Negi heard from his behind, breaking his concentration.

Miyamoto then approached the bartender and used her best adult voice.

"I am Mika-sensei. I want two… er…" she quickly took a quick look on the menu, "two fruit punch delight!"

The bartender turned his attention to Miyamoto and raised an eyebrow. "I thought I just served a Mika-sensei just moment ago. You looked a bit too young to be here…"

Miyamoto quickly replied with hurt in her voice, "Are you being sizest? I cannot help if I am born small. That bouncer-san let us in after all."

The bartender looked at her suspiciously but decided to just serve her anyway. "Two fruit punch delight, 'Mika-sensei'" as he gave her two dainty wine glasses with fizzy green liquid in it.

Negi was impressed. Miyamoto had managed to acquire the drinks without magic but using wits and craft. He would not have been able to do that.

"Thank you, young man," Miyamoto took the drinks and went back to the seats with Negi.

"Come, a toast to our success." Miyamoto flaunted the newly-acquired drinks at Negi.

Negi sat down and asked critically, "Are you sure you want to drink?" He lowered his voice, "We're both underaged."

"Who cares," Miyamoto dismissed it. "I'm older than you too." She added.

"Only by half a year," Negi retorted in a boyish concern about age seniority. He took a glass of the fruit punch delight and took a sniff. He did not like the smell of the alcohol.

"To health," Miyamoto said as she raised the dainty cup to her lips like in the movies.

Negi noticed a stumbling man staggering from behind Miyamoto. His eyes grew wider as he realized that the drunkard would soon knock into her.

He tried to say something but it was too late. The man knocked into Miyamoto. Miyamoto got pushed forward and jerked back in reaction. She accidentally drank all of the fruit punch delight.

"Sorry," The drunkard said and staggered off.

Miyamoto was trying to cough out the drink; her face, a picture of agony. It was too late as most of the liquid had gone down her throat. Her look of distaste slowly vanished, replaced with one of bliss.

Negi looked on with horror as she giggled happily. He went forward to support Miyamoto who was swinging gently.

"Miyamoto-sama?" he asked as he shook her to help her get a grip.

It was no use. She was drunk.

"Slave... Is it a bit hot in here…" Miyamoto said as she started to unzip the zipper at her back.

"No!" Negi quickly shouted back. "No! In fact you are feeling cold. You want my robe." Negi tried to convince her as he took off his robe to cover her.

"Oh… maybe hic I do feel cold…" Miyamoto accepted the robe and took a couple of staggering steps.

"You are tired. Let me bring you home." Negi bent down as Miyamoto leaned onto his back instinctively. Negi could feel her warmth at his back and her gentle breathing.

"Let's go." He said softly to the dazed Miyamoto and slowly stood up.

'She's lighter than I thought.' Negi thought to himself as he made his way to the front entrance of the club.

"Underaged minor…" The bouncer tried to stop them.

"We're leaving, not entering," Negi snared back at the bouncer before continuing towards the female hostel.

"Rei… Ichigo… Himeko… Ku..ku..whatever… I miss you hic so…" Negi heard Miyamoto say. They must be her students.

"I understand how you feel. I miss my students too." Negi replied, despite knowing that Miyamoto was too drunk to answer.

"You are cute, slave…hic" Miyamoto murmured.

Negi blushed at that statement and answered, "Uhmm… thank you. You're also very cute."

He meant it.

"But you are hic also a pervert," Miyamoto giggled.

"I'm sorry for what happened. I did not mean for it to happen." Negi replied, hurt by the comment.

"To think hic I… was about to hic invite… you… like… you…" Miyamoto said.

Negi had no answer to that. He felt quite embarrassed and intrusive with what Miyamoto was saying without a thought. Then he heard the gentle snoring from behind.

He turned around to see the angelic face of Miyamoto, sleeping without a concern in the world.

He merely smiled and pressed on.

When they finally reached her hostel, Negi discovered a problem. He had no access to her room.

He laid Miyamoto gently on the ground and took a step back. He checked the surroundings for potential witnesses, and then he said, "_Sagita Magica Una Fulguralis!" _

A single energy ball shot out of his hand and destroyed the door knob to the door, leaving a gapping hole in the door.

Negi pushed the door opened and lifted Miyamoto onto one of the two the beds in the room. Miyamoto rolled over gently and hugged a pillow.

Negi looked at the surroundings and realized a new problem.

Now that the knob was destroyed, the door could no longer be locked. The room and Miyamoto were sitting ducks to criminals.

Negi yawned in tiredness. He would have to stay in order to guard the place, at least until Miyamoto had awakened.

He knew he cannot stay in the room. Giving his bad sleeping posture, he might end up hugging Miyamoto in the middle of the night and causing an even worse misunderstanding than before.

He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Then he sat down on the floor, leaning against the door.

'Looks like I would have to stay on guard outside for today,' Negi thought as the sweet scent of sleep slowly took over him.

Soon gentle snoring could be heard as the children slept; not knowing what awaits them in the near future.

* * *

_End Chapter Two_

* * *

"Are…are…you sure you know what you are doing?" Mesousa asked Chamo as they walked along the dimly-lit pathway of the park. 

"Of course, Mesousa. It will be just like old times, the two of us, exploring the unknown for truth, beauty, freedom and most of all, love. Think of the good, old Bohemian times we had!" Chamo exclaimed from the top of Mesousa's head as he directed Mesousa to continue.

The old times were just what Mesousa did not want to remember. Everyday was something unknown and usually bad or nasty. But there was just no arguing with Chamo.

Soon after Negi and Takahata left for the evening ceremony, Chamo had urged Mesousa to go out for a walk, to talk about old times. Mesousa would rather try and find Rebecca but he was too afraid to go off on his own.

He found himself wishing for a rabbit hutch to hide in.

"Look over there!" Chamo said with excitement in his voice.

Mesousa looked and saw a simple-looking church situated along a T-junction.

"Remember the last time we entered a church?" Chamo recalled with fondness in his voice.

Mesousa was not so happy with that memory. Nuns can get very vicious when they get angry. He still shudders whenever he sees a candle stand.

"Let's go in!" Chamo urged, "Maybe there will be some pretty sisters again."

"Again!", Mesousa whined. He did not like where this was going but the alternative would be to be left alone in unfamiliar grounds. Chamo may be a hazardous companion but at least he was a companion.

Mesousa approached the church with caution. Opening the door carefully, he let himself and Chamo in.

The church was your standard church, plenty of benches and a stand in front for the pastor.

Mesousa walked forward slowly. The stained glass let in diffused moonlight, casting light onto the pathway to the altar. Everything else was shrouded in shadows.

Just then, voices and footsteps could be heard coming out from the back door. There were people coming. Mesousa frantically looked around for a hiding place.

"In here!" Chamo pointed out the nearby confessional.

Mesousa quickly entered the confessional and closed the door. "Please don't find me. I confess that I had never been brave or courageous," Mesousa prayed to no one.

Voices can be heard from outside. "I'm going out. No pain, no gain," Chamo said. Before Mesousa could stop him, Chamo had jumped off his head and scurried out of the confessional.

"Ahh… We got another lecture from Sister Yukariko," a voice could be heard complaining to the others, "Reforming is harder than I thought."

Mesousa ventured a peek outside. The voice had belonged to a red-haired girl in a habit. She was sitting on the back of a bench, swinging her legs care freely.

"That was because we scare away 82.75 percent of the church goers," a pale-blue hair girl replied monotonously as she calmly combed the hair of a young, golden-hair girl.

"Your Alyssa scared most of them away with her brutal remarks. And I was giving them such good advice too," the red-haired girl said.

"Do not speak bad of Alyssa Ojou-sama. This is your 2046th reminder," the pale-blue hair girl answered back.

"Nao-sempai, your advices are not exactly ethical either. It would be better to tell them the truth," the golden-haired little girl called Alyssa said.

"Yeah, yeah, my little devil," the girl known as Nao said as she waved her hands as if to imply 'whatever'.

"Nao-san. This is your 2047th reminder," the pale-blue haired girl said.

"Yes, yes, Miyu-chan," Nao replied sarcastically, then she turned serious, "How is the observing going?"

"There had been increased SEARRS communication recently. I fear that they are up to something," Miyu said.

"This is strange. The Hime War had ended long ago," Nao said as she gazed at her hands as if she was reminiscing something, "SEARRS should not have much to do now."

"It is probably something to do with the Apostles Prophecy," Alyssa said softly.

Both Miyu and Nao looked at Alyssa.

"You mean the one they recently found?" Nao asked.

"Seven will descend, seven will bless, seven will bring forth new light…" Alyssa recited, "SEARRS must be after these seven prophesied Apostles…. And I can sense that I am one of them."

"Don't worry. We have nothing to do with SEARRS anymore. I will protect Alyssa Ojou-sama, no matter what."

That said, Miyu bent down and with lightning speed, grabbed a struggling ermine that had been trying to look up her habit.

"There is another presence in the confessional. Come out now," Miyu commanded.

Mesousa had been discovered. He was scared. He was scared. But Chamo's life was on the line. Gathering whatever little courage he had, Mesousa walked out of the confessional with his trembling arms in the air.

"I sense that these animals had an aura of magic around them. How do you want to deal with them, Ojou-sama?" Miyu asked Alyssa who was looking at the shaking Mesousa intensively.

"You know, we can skin them and sell the ermine and rabbit fur for some money," Nao suggested gleefully.

At this comment, Mesousa felt faint. The end was near. Goodbye, cruel world. His adventures with Chamo had seldom come to a good ending.

"Let them go," Alyssa said.

Mesousa looked at Alyssa with hope in his eyes. The moonlight was shining onto her. In this church of shadows, where both Nao and Miyu were mostly concealed in the dark, she stood in the light like an angel of hope.

"As you wish," Miyu said as she let the struggling Chamo down on the floor.

Mesousa quickly ran forward, as fast as his shaking legs could take him. Chamo jumped on his head as he past by. Running past the unemotional Miyu, past the smirking Nao.

As he ran past the angel in his eyes, Alyssa who decided to spare their lives, Mesousa said, "Thank…thank you."

"Sent my regards to the other two," he heard Alyssa replied.

Then, Mesousa ran out of the church and did not stop until he made his way back to the empty hostel.

* * *

_End Chapter Two Point One_

_To be continued_

* * *

Thank you for reading. Interested people can email me to give more suggestions. (Though I had the whole story planned in my head, more or less) 

Challenge: How many other anime references can you spot?


	3. Consequences

This chapter has been taken down before and what you see before you is a revised version of it.

This story is a product of anime addiction and having too much free time in the middle of the night.

But! The characters and the school itself unfortunately do not belong to me.

* * *

She woke up to the constant sound of water hitting the floor. Reluctantly, she opened her weary eyes to take in the surroundings. 

The curtains might have blocked off most of the sunlight but some still managed to sneak in. These errant rays of light cast brightness onto Rebecca. A new day had dawned since the night's events.

Unwilling to move, Rebecca surveyed the room from her position. The face of a young bespectacled boy snoring gently before her…. The noise of Igarashi's singing out of tune wafting from the showers…. The feel of the soft blanket over her….

She closed her eyes tightly. She could feel the creeping effect of a splitting headache. As much as she tried, she could not recall what happened after she drank that foul-tasting 'Fruit Punch Delight'.

Pain and exhaustion hit her. She moaned painfully and mentally swore never to touch one of those drinks ever again. And there she lay, trying to return to the comfort of sleep when a nagging thought reminded her that something was not quite right.

Rebecca opened her eyes, then closed it again.

'This is a nightmare,' she thought frantically, 'this must be a nightmare. If I wake up, he will be gone.'

"Okay… I'm awake now…" She reassured herself, then she opened her eyes once more.

He was still there, that Negi. Sleeping before her without a care in the world.

She jolted to a sitting position and felt her body to check for any problems. She realized to her horror that her dress zipper at her back was undone.

'He did it again… He violated a sleeping maiden…' Rebecca retreated from the sleeping figure, clutching to the blanket that covered her.

She considered screaming when she realized that the blanket around her was in fact a robe, the robe that Negi wore the previous night.

At that moment, Igarashi stepped out of the showers.

"Oh, you have awakened. Good morning, Miyamoto-chan," Igarashi greeted as she walked to the wardrobe and took off the bathrobe.

"He… he…." Rebecca tried to say as she pointed at the sleeping boy. But words would not come out,

"The boy? I found him asleep outside with the doorknob on the floor. He must be quite strong to be able to break that knob. He was such a forlorn sight that I brought him in," Igarashi started to change to casual wear.

Rebecca looked to the door and noticed a gapping hole at where a knob should be.

"Don't worry about it. I have already called the local management to repair it. Prince Charming here must have stayed outside to protect our room and you from any outsiders, too bad he fell asleep."

Rebecca was slowly piecing the bits of the puzzle in her mind. She must have become drunk and fell asleep last night after that drink. And judging from what Igarashi said, this Negi Springfield must have brought her back, broke the knob to gain entry and stayed behind to protect the place.

She hugged the robe closer to her as she gazed at the sleeping boy. She could feel blood rushing up to her face as she wondered about what could have happened between her getting drunk and now. She tried to shake off those wild thoughts and unknown emotions raging in her mind.

Then, Negi woke up. Rebecca found herself retreating some more to the edge of the bed.

"Good morning, Miyamoto-sama," Negi said in a dreamy state as he noticed the look Rebecca was giving him.

He looked around at the surrounding for a while before he realized that he had been sleeping on Rebecca's bed.

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" he immediately started to apologize, "I did not do anything, I swear."

"Ah… Prince Charming is awake," Igarashi had finished changing, "Don't worry, I was the one who brought you in."

"You could have put me in the other bed," Negi whined unhappily.

"What? And deny myself a bed to sleep?" Igarashi replied, then she placed a hand on both Negi's and Rebecca's head and rubbed furiously.

"I'm leaving to explore town for now. Both of you, enjoy…" and in a mock whisper to Negi, "All the best, Prince Charming."

Giving Negi a mischievous wink and a thumbs-up, she left the room, closing the door silently behind.

Negi and Rebecca stared at each other in silence.

"Miyamoto-sama, I swear I did not do anything to you… except breaking your knob…" Negi tried to break the silence by reassuring the doubts in Rebecca's mind.

"Did… I… say anything weird… yesterday?" Rebecca asked, hoping that she had not said anything too embarrassing, like her days in M.I.T. or the fact that she had been somewhat interested in Negi.

In fact, she felt a curious mix of embarrassment and horror as she realized that deep in her heart, despite all those talks of revenge, she was still interested in him.

"Ah…" Negi tried to say as he blushed, like he was remembering something.

'That's it,' she thought, 'It must be something very embarrassing.'

"You said that you missed your students… and I replied that I miss my students too…" Negi said slowly and carefully, as if he was judging his words.

Rebecca looked at him suspiciously. He seemed to be hiding something.

"Nothing else?" she asked, hoping that that was the end.

"Well… Miyamoto-sama, I had to stop you from taking off your dress," Negi answered.

Rebecca felt another wave of embarrassment hit her. She knew there was probably other things that happened but decided not to press on before it got too embarrassing to her.

"What else do you want me to do, Miyamoto-sama." Negi asked.

"Springfield-san…" Rebecca felt somewhat uncomfortable calling him anything other than 'that boy' or 'slave', but after what he had did to help her, it felt more right to call him by his name.

"Call me Becky." She had felt most at home with the nickname that her students had given her.

Negi had a look of surprise on his face, "O..kay… Becky-sama…"

"Becky will do."

Negi smiled happily. "Well then, Becky-chan, can you call me Negi?"

Rebecca hesitated for a while.

"Ne..gi..-kun," she tried.

"Yes, Becky-chan?"

"Nothing, Negi-kun."

Then they look at each other and laughed for a while. A wall seemed to have broken between them.

Rebecca stopped to think. They were not that close, were they? She was supposed to be smarting from the cruise incident… she still had a reputation to keep.

"But you are still my slave," she quickly added, partly to reassure herself.

Negi looked disappointed. There was silence as both of them thought about what to say next.

"Err… Negi-kun, are you… interested in attending the tour of Fuuka Academy together?" Rebecca finally asked Negi shyly. Seeing the surprised look on Negi's face, she quickly added, "It's okay if you think that it is too boring for you… but it would be nice to have someone of the same age range accompany me..," She looked at Negi with anticipation in her eyes.

Negi gave her a wide, cheerful smile and answered brightly, "I will be glad to."

Soon afterwards, Negi left for his hostel as they promised to meet up at nine thirty at the flower garden.

Once Negi left, Rebecca just sat on the bed as the impact of what she said slowly hit home. Did she just ask Negi for a date? Did she like him that much? A tour of the school was not very interesting, was it? Whatever it was, there was no denying that she had acquired an interest for this little gentleman.

The local management came and gone, replacing the knob with a new one. With the agreed time approaching, Rebecca took a quick shower and changed to a new set of clothing to get ready for the tour.

After a while, Rebecca had reached the pavilion in the flower garden. Some other participants of the convention had also arrived but there was no sign of Negi.

She took a look at her watch; it seemed that she had arrived early. With a sign, she leaned herself onto one of the pillars and returned the stares she was receiving from others with a deadly glare. No matter she went, everyone seems to find her interesting, some even try to buy her sweets. While she had been used to the stares and the pointing of fingers, she still did not enjoy being in the center of attention.

Back in her M.I.T. days, she was able to scare off everyone with her coldness, but as she entered the adult world prematurely, it got harder and harder as it went. Negi had been the first to see her as anything other than a cute child trying to act adult, did not make fun of her or try to look impressed, maybe it was because they were so similar in fate and age.

Negi finally came, dressed in casual T-shirt and jeans.

"You're late. It is nine-forty," Rebecca scowled at him.

"I'm sorry. I got held up by your colleague," Negi replied breathlessly. He had been running all the way here.

"Saotome?" she asked, "Why?"

"He was worried about you," Negi answered, "Look, the hosts have arrived."

Sure enough, some students have arrived. Rebecca could recognize Natsuki and Tate from the Evening Ceremony and Aoi, her guide for the first day. This time, they had another student with them. A girl with glasses and short, black hair talking to Aoi.

"Alright," Natsuki announced through a loudspeaker, "Esteemed guests of Fuuka Academy. Please gather around me." Once the participants had gathered and stopped talking, she continued, "We would like to thank you all for coming for this tour of Fuuka Academy. My friends here," she refered to Aoi and her friend, "will lead you around Fuuka and the surrounding areas."

"We wish all of you an enjoyable tour and thank you," With that, Natsuki signaled the rest to leave with her, leaving Aoi and her friend with the group.

"My name is Aoi, as some of you would have known, and my friend here is Chie. We will be your guides for the tour of Fuuka Academy. Please follow me," she waved a little flag in her hands as she led the group to the main building.

The guides brought the group to the many interesting places of Fuuka. The cafeteria; the state-of-the-arts gym and exercise facilities; the library with the giant clock in the middle.

One of the stops was to a classroom where a class was in progress. A lady teacher with red hair tied in a ponytail was teaching the class history. On seeing the group peering into the class, she stopped the lesson and greeted the group.

"Good morning, fellow teachers. My name is Midori and I am seventeen," she said brightly.

As the group moved on to other places, Rebecca noticed Chie approached Midori and talked to her ears. Midori nodded and continued with her lessons in the class.

Finally, they reached a little church just at the fringe of Fuuka's boundaries, far away from the academy.

"This church has been here for as long as any of us can remember. We had our own Sister Yukariko who runs the church but since she is currently expecting her second child, the church is run by our own student volunteers for now," Chie explained.

They led the group into the church where a lone, solitary red-haired girl, dressed in a habit was sending some message through her handphone. On seeing the arrival of the group, she sprang to attention.

"Welcome to the Covent of God," she said grandly, "I am Sister Nao and I would be most willing to entertain any confessions any of you would like to make."

"Five hundred yen per confession," she added.

Before she could continue to introduce the different services from God (all with a price), Chie asked her, "Sister Nao, where is Alyssa-chan? We are hoping she would sing a song or two for the teachers."

"Oh…" Sister Nao became bored when she realized the group was not interested in any of the services, "That would cost too, but Alyssa went with Miyu to investigate the excavation site nearby."

Then, she shooed all of them out, "Do not disturb the peace of God when thou does not seek his help."

Rebecca looked at Negi as they left the church. So far, he had seemed to be enjoying the trip. She, herself had found the trip quite boring but did not wish to show it.

Occasionally, he would turn and gave her that warm, friendly smile, or simply asked her if she was enjoying herself. And to her chagrin, she would feel the rushing blood and those blasted butterflies in her stomach when that happened.

Just then, Negi raised a hand and asked, "Can we visit the excavation site?" There were murmurs of agreement from the rest. The excavation site with the archaeological discovery had featured greatly in the news and everyone was interested in it.

"Sure," Chie answered smoothly, "This way, please."

The two student guides brought the group along the pathway until at one point, the guides turned into a beaten forest path.

After some time, the group found themselves in front of a cave. There was a tent with scientists studying some diagrams in it. Equipments and vehicles lied around the entrance as workman relaxed under the trees for some shade before carrying on their work.

Chie approached a more official-looking workman and talked to him. The workman gave a nod in agreement and then Chie came back to the group.

"The foreman has given his permission to enter the excavation site. Please remember not to touch anything and do not move out of the group unless permission is given otherwise," she said.

Then taking a lamp from the ground, she and Aoi walked into the dark cave and signaled for the rest to move on.

There were lamps hanging inside the cave so it was not total darkness. But with the occasional presence of light, came the ever presence of shadows and strange sounds. Rebecca found herself subconsciously clinging on to Negi as they continued their trek into the cave.

Finally, the group reached a large cavern. There was no one in sight save for two figures examining the carving on the wall. The walls of the cavern were filled with carvings of an ancient words and pictures. The floor itself had a circle with elaborate patterns on it. Rebecca could not help but notice that the circle was glowing faintly blue. And that the glow became brighter, more prominent as Chie led them into the circle.

"This is the excavation site of Fuuka that you have been reading about. Currently is the workers' lunch break thus there is no one around. Please do not touch anything around you. The archaeologists are still trying to translate their scriptures and these scriptures are very prone to erosion," Chie said. No one seemed to have noticed the glow at their feet.

The figures though, had noticed the arrival of the group and came forward. One of them was a nun with pale-blue hair while the other one was much smaller in size. A golden-haired girl who looked around the same age as Rebecca and Negi.

"Good afternoon, Sister Miyu and Alyssa-chan. Please to see you," Aoi greeted them. Then she turned to the group and addressed them, "Alyssa-chan here, is the best singer in Fuuka Academy. Nicknamed the Golden Canary, her single '_It's only the fairy tale_' is available at all leading music stores." She turned to Alyssa, "Would you like to sing them a song?"

Alyssa was staring at Negi with interest in her eyes. She then signaled to Negi to come with her. Negi looked surprised but then followed Alyssa to the wall where they talked for a while.

Aoi was visibly disappointed as she told the anticipating group, "Looks like Alyssa is not interested for the moment. Don't be disappointed for this highly acclaimed single is available for affordable prices at the music stores near you. All proceedings go to the Fuuka Academy Funds."

Rebecca felt a moment of annoyance as she stared daggers at the back of that Alyssa. Then she realized to her own annoyance that she actually felt annoyed. There was no reason for her to be jealouswas there? Negi was free to choose who he want to speak to.

As the group got ready to leave, she got impatient and decided to take matters into her own hands. She marched towards Negi and Alyssa, making sure every footstep could be heard to emphasize her unhappiness.

As she approaches them, she could hear parts of the conversation. "….after us sooner or later…" Alyssa was saying. "How sure are you?" Negi replied.

Rebecca took hold of Negi's arm and gave a little pull. "Come on, Negi-kun. The group is leaving. We are leaving," she said with frustration in her voice.

"Ahh… Becky-chan…" Negi looked at her.

Alyssa turned her attention to Rebecca. Rebecca returned the look with a glare. After an intense staring competition, Alyssa said, "Pardon my ignorance. My name is Alyssa Searrs. And you are?"

"Rebecca Miyamoto, Maths teacher of Momotsuki Academy, M.I.T. graduate," Rebecca shot back, fully intent on besting her.

"I had not noticed you just now since your aura is weaker than his," Alyssa said calmly, "Can you see the glow of the circle?"

"Aura? What aur… " Rebecca ranted, then she asked in astonishment, "You see it too?"

Alyssa nodded sagely. Negi also nodded.

Rebecca looked back at the group. They were looking with interest at the markings on the wall but none of them were looking at the floor. Chie was conducting a conversation with Aoi. Sister Miyu was keeping watch of Alyssa from a distance.

"No one in this room, save for the three of us, can see the glowing circle," Alyssa explained, "or the fact that it has glowed brighter since your group came in…"

Before she could finish, Negi grabbed Rebecca's hand.

Rebecca gave a gasp of surprise. She hate to admit it but it was a pleasant surprise.

"The group will be gone soon. Let's go, Becky-chan," Negi quickly said and left Alyssa, pulling Rebecca along.

"It's okay. Remember to keep a look out," Alyssa said to them and turned back to the wall, as if she was continuing her interrupted readings.

Rebecca would have liked to finish listening to Alyssa's explanation but being pulled by Negi, was not such a bad thing either. Plus she also felt better, now that Negi was away from Alyssa.

The group left the cave and the guides then led the group back to the school compounds to a place where there was a circular barricade in the middle of an opening.

"This is the Crystal Arena," Aoi explained, "This is perhaps one of the most popular meeting points in the school and the center of focus during the Tamayura Festival."

"The Tamayura Festival commemorates the struggles of the twelve maiden warriors in Fuuka's local legends," Chie continued with the explanation, "It is said that before the maidens went to fight, they tied the names of their loved ones on the barricade. Till now, such a tradition exists."

She pointed to the few ribbons that were tied to the barricade.

"The practice here is that by tying a ribbon with the names of your loved one, the two of you will be together forever. Thus giving a ribbon with your name on it to the one you are interested in is considered as good as a confession here at Fuuka," Aoi said.

"While people tend to do it all year round, it is said to be most effective during the Tamayura Festival itself, which is," Chie paused for a while to think, "a couple of days from now." Murmurs of delight could be heard.

Rebecca could not help but listened with interest, a bud of a plan forming in her mind. She looked at Negi who seemed not to be paying any attention; he seemed to be thinking about something else. She frowned at the thought that he might be thinking about Alyssa.

The tour soon ended as the tour guides left the group to their own. It was about mid-afternoon.

Negi walked Rebecca back to the hostel.

"See you later, Becky-chan," Negi said with seriousness in his tone when they reached her room, "Watch out for danger. I will come to get you. If you sense anything wrong, do not open the door to anyone, even for me."

"Okay, okay… Bye, Negi-kun" Rebecca answered quickly and closed the door to the room. She could not be bothered that much with his warning.

Rummaging the wardrobe, she dug out a long, white piece of ribbon. Then, she wrote her full name carefully on it. Done, she lifted it up to admire her handiwork.

Rebecca found herself blushing. It had sounded so good at first but on second thought… What was she thinking of? It was not like she liked him or anything.

She hastily put the ribbon aside. It was too much for a young child like her to give this to someone else.

But she found herself looking at the forlorn looking ribbon.

'It's only a gift,' she assured herself, 'for helping me back at the club. Not like I am forgiving him for the cruise incident'

She picked up the ribbon and then tied the ribbon to her hair. No point carrying it in her hands the whole time. She would give it to him later, maybe during this Tamayura Festival the guides mentioned.

As evening came, Rebecca was occupied with her inner struggles of her feelings when she heard some knocks on the door.

She leapt to her feet, maybe Igarashi was back. Or maybe, she secretly hoped, it was Negi.

Then without hesitation, she opened the door.

* * *

_End Chapter Two Point Five_

* * *

Negi woke up from his slumber to see Miyamoto staring at him on the bed. 

"Good morning, Miyamoto-sama," he greeted her dreamily as he tried to blink out the sleep from his eyes. He looked around at the surrounding for a while, the bed, Miyamoto hugging a pillow with a pink blush on her cheeks, staring at him from a far corner of the bed….

Realization hit him. Somehow his old habit must have occurred. He must have made his way into her bed in his sleep. 'The misunderstanding just got worse,' he thought unhappily as he mentally cursed his sleeping habits.

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" he apologized to the un-reactive Miyamoto, "I did not do anything, I swear."

"Ah… Prince Charming is awake," an older woman stood before them, probably Miyamoto's colleague, "Don't worry, I was the one who brought you in."

"You could have put me in the other bed," Negi whined unhappily.

"What? And deny myself a bed to sleep?" The woman replied, then she placed a hand on both Negi's and Rebecca's head and rubbed furiously.

"I'm leaving to explore town for now. Both of you, enjoy…" she said and in a mock whisper to Negi, "All the best, Prince Charming."

Giving Negi a mischievous wink and a thumbs-up, the woman left the room, closing the door silently behind.

Negi and Miyamoto stared at each other in silence.

"Miyamoto-sama, I swear I did not do anything to you… except breaking your knob…" Negi tried to break the silence by reassuring the doubts in Miyamoto's mind. At least he hoped that was all that happened.

"Did… I… say anything weird… yesterday?" Miyamoto asked.

"Ah…" Negi tried to say as he blushed. He recalled the drunken state she was at the previous night and what she had said about him.

He looked at Miyamoto. She was clearly embarrassed with the previous night's incident. It would be best not to tell her too much.

"You said that you missed your students… and I replied that I miss my students too…" Negi said slowly, choosing his words carefully to avoid giving too much away.

Miyamoto looked at him suspiciously. "Nothing else?" she asked.

"Well… Miyamoto-sama, I had to stop you from taking off your dress," Negi answered truthfully.

Miyamoto was fidgeting uncomfortably at that revelation.

"What else do you want me to do, Miyamoto-sama." Negi asked, hoping to console her.

"Springfield-san…" Miyamoto said softly.

"Call me Becky." She said.

Negi was surprised. He was glad that Miyamoto had stopped calling him 'Slave' but to call her by a nickname felt surprisingly close. "O..kay… Becky-sama…"

"Becky will do."

Negi felt happy. It seemed that she had accepted him. It would be nicer if she was also in first names term with him. He decided to try his luck.

"Well then, Becky-chan, can you call me Negi?"

Becky hesitated for a while. Then slowly, she tried.

"Ne..gi..-kun"

"Yes, Becky-chan?" Negi answered happily.

"Nothing, Negi-kun."

Then they look at each other and laughed for a while. A wall seemed to have broken between them.

"But you are still my slave," Becky was quick to add.

Negi's happiness was cut short. So she had not totally forgiven him yet. There was silence as both of them thought about what to say next.

"Err… Negi-kun, are you… interested in attending the tour of Fuuka Academy together?" Becky asked Negi shyly.

Negi was quite surprised by the invitation. Deep in him, he was very, very happy.

His look of surprise must be evident since Becky quickly added, "It's okay if you think that it is too boring for you… but it would be nice to have someone of the same age range accompany me..," She looked at Negi with anticipation in her eyes.

'She could have ordered me…' he thought, maybe there was still a chance. Maybe he could still get closer to her, get to know her better.

Negi gave her a wide, cheerful smile and answered brightly, "I will be glad to."

Soon afterwards, Negi left for his hostel as they promised to meet up at nine thirty at the flower garden.

Negi hummed happily as he walked back. This may not be a first date for him, he had dates with his students before like Nodoka, but this time was different. It felt different. Not so much an obligation.

Actually, technically, he had the obligation but he was more than happy to do so.

In fact if Becky had not asked, Negi would have asked her instead.

As he opened the door to his hostel room, he was greeted by a hostile looking teacher.

Saotome was glaring angrily at Negi, holding a bokuto threateningly in his hand. Takahata was trying to calm him down over tea. Chamo was asleep in the bed while Mesousa was nowhere to be seen.

"What did you do with Miyamoto?" Saotome questioned Negi angrily.

"Calm down, Saotome-san. I'm sure Negi-kun did no harm to your colleague," Takahata tried to calm Saotome and then turning his attention to Negi, he asked, "What did you do last night?"

The older woman must have called and informed Saotome about finding Negi at Becky's door.

Negi signed and started to tell what happened last time to the two male teachers, leaving out the parts about the cruise incident and magic of course.

"Miyamoto asking you to sneak into the bar with her and ending up drunk?" Saotome pondered, "That sounded like just what she might do…"

He still looked somewhat skeptical but he seemed to have taken the story.

Takahata gave Negi a knowing smile and told Saotome, "I told you that Negi would not do anything to this Miyamoto. Would you?" He looked to Negi. Negi knew that Takahata knew that he was hiding parts of the story.

Negi shook his head furiously.

"Becky had invited me to go with her to the school tour. We are to meet up at nine-thirty," he said, hoping that Saotome would let it go.

Saotome seemed to have deflated as he sat down onto the chair. He gave a sign of relief and looked at Negi.

"Treat her well," he finally said with a smile of acceptance, "She may act like an evil genius at times, but deep down inside is a little crybaby with little real experience."

As he left to return to his room, he turned back and added, "I'll be back to find out what you two did during the tour, don't you dare make her cry." He gave the bokuto a wave to show he meant business and closed his door.

With the departure of Saotome, Negi got changed and quickly ran to the flower garden to meet Becky. Becky dressed in a blouse with shorts was already waiting impatiently, giving those present a deadly glare.

"You're late. It is nine-forty," Becky scowled at him when she noticed his arrival.

"I'm sorry. I got held up by your colleague," Negi replied breathlessly.

"Saotome?" she asked, "Why?"

"He was worried about you," Negi answered, "Look, the hosts have arrived."

Sure enough, some students have arrived. Negi could recognize Natsuki and Tate from the Evening Ceremony and Aoi, her guide for the first day. This time, they had another student with them. A girl with glasses and short, black hair talking to Aoi.

"Alright," Natsuki announced through a loudspeaker, "Esteemed guests of Fuuka Academy. Please gather around me." Once the participants had gathered and stopped talking, she continued, "We would like to thank you all for coming for this tour of Fuuka Academy. My friends here," she refered to Aoi and her friend, "will lead you around Fuuka and the surrounding areas."

"We wish all of you an enjoyable tour and thank you," With that, Natsuki signaled the rest to leave with her, leaving Aoi and her friend with the group.

"My name is Aoi, as some of you would have known, and my friend here is Chie. We will be your guides for the tour of Fuuka Academy. Please follow me," she waved a little flag in her hands as she led the group to the main building.

The guides brought the group to the many interesting places of Fuuka. The cafeteria; the state-of-the-arts gym and exercise facilities; the library with the giant clock in the middle, classrooms and even a small local church.

Negi was enjoying the tour, finding out more about this school. Occasionally, he would turn and smile to her, or ask her if she was enjoying herself. He would not like it if he was the only one enjoying it.

Somehow, she would always looked flustered and turn away hurriedly. Negi wondered if he did anything that offended her.

A comment by the nun at the church had reminded Negi about the recent excavation within the school. He decided to ask the guides about it.

He raised a hand and asked, "Can we visit the excavation site?" There were murmurs of agreement from the rest. The excavation site with the archaeological discovery had featured greatly in the news and everyone was interested in it.

"Sure," Chie answered smoothly, "This way, please."

The two student guides brought the group along the pathway until at one point, the guides turned into a beaten forest path.

After some time, the group found themselves in front of a cave. There was a tent with scientists studying some diagrams in it. Equipments and vehicles lied around the entrance as workman relaxed under the trees for some shade before carrying on their work.

Chie approached a more official-looking workman and talked to him. The workman gave a nod in agreement and then Chie came back to the group.

"The foreman has given his permission to enter the excavation site. Please remember not to touch anything and do not move out of the group unless permission is given otherwise," she said.

Then taking a lamp from the ground, she and Aoi walked into the dark cave and signaled for the rest to move on.

There were lamps hanging inside the cave so it was not total darkness. Negi felt Becky clung on to his during the trek into the cave. He found her little display of child-like behavior quite cute, an interesting contrast to the much more cynical Becky he was more used to.

Finally, the group reached a large cavern. There was no one in sight save for two figures examining the carving on the wall. The walls of the cavern were filled with carvings of an ancient words and pictures. The floor itself had a glowing circle with elaborate patterns on it.

The glowing circle surprised Negi. He could tell that the circle was actually a magical symbol. The dull glow emitting from it was proof that the symbol still worked. He wondered what the significance of the magic circle was.

"This is the excavation site of Fuuka that you have been reading about. Currently is the workers' lunch break thus there is no one around. Please do not touch anything around you. The archaeologists are still trying to translate their scriptures and these scriptures are very prone to erosion," Chie said.

The figures already present had noticed the arrival of the group and came forward. One of them was a nun with pale-blue hair while the other one was much smaller in size. A golden-haired girl who looked around the same age as Becky and himself.

"Good afternoon, Sister Miyu and Alyssa-chan. Please to see you," Aoi greeted them. Then she turned to the group and addressed them, "Alyssa-chan here, is the best singer in Fuuka Academy. Nicknamed the Golden Canary, her single '_It's only the fairy tale_' is available at all leading music stores." She turned to Alyssa, "Would you like to sing them a song?"

Alyssa was staring at Negi with interest in her eyes. She then signaled to Negi to come with her.

Negi was surprised but decided to go to her out of politeness.

They went to a corner of the cavern, further away from the group.

Alyssa said, "I am Alyssa Searrs. I can sense the magical aura around you. Did you by chance own a rabbit and an ermine?"

"I am Negi Springfield. You must be referring to Mesousa and Chamo, what did they do this time…" Negi said before something that Alyssa said caught his attention, "You can sense my magic?"

Alyssa pointed to the magic circle and said factually, "You can see the magic circle on the floor."

Negi nodded as an answer. "What does that mean?" he asked, "Everyone can also see it."

He looked back at the group. He noticed Becky sulking unhappily. But everyone else was oblivious to the magic circle glowing dully at their feet.

"What do you know?" he asked Alyssa.

Alyssa pointed to the scrawling scriptures that covered the walls of the cavern. "These tell of a legend," she said.

"Yes, I know," Negi recalled what Aoi first said on the first day he arrived at Fuuka. "Some old prophecy about seven beings and something like that."

"Seven would descend; Seven would bless; Seven will bring forth new light; And; Mankind will learn," Alyssa recited the ancient verses that was supposed to on the walls, "but there was more to what was said on the walls." She said.

Negi looked at the words on the wall with confusion. The words had belonged to an ancient language, long forgotten by most people; he could not read any of it.

"It mentioned the glowing circle," Alyssa said helpfully to Negi, "The circle that only the chosen ones could see."

Negi looked at Alyssa, somewhat unconvinced.

"Both of us are two of the seven chosen ones," Alyssa said.

Looking at Negi's doubting eyes, Alyssa gave a sign, "You are not convinced."

"I accept that you can identify me as a mage but to tell me that I am the chosen one just like that, seemed too fantastic even for me to take," Negi replied.

"Regardless," Alyssa said, "There are people who seek us for our power. They are already gathering around Fuuka now. They would come after us sooner or later."

"How sure are you?" Negi replied. He had learned in the past, never to ignore warnings no matter how impossible. You would never know what could go wrong next.

Loud, furious footsteps could be heard approaching them. There was a tug at his arm. It was Becky.

"Come on, Negi-kun. The group is leaving. We are leaving," she said with frustration in her voice.

"Ahh… Becky-chan…" Negi looked to her.

Alyssa turned her attention to Becky. Becky returned the look with a glare. After an intense staring competition, Alyssa said, "Pardon my ignorance. My name is Alyssa Searrs. And you are?"

"Rebecca Miyamoto, Maths teacher of Momotsuki Academy, M.I.T. graduate," Becky shot back, fully intent on besting her.

Negi felt the temperature went down a couple of degree. He shivered as he sensed trouble brewing.

"I had not noticed you just now since your aura is weaker than his," Alyssa said calmly, "Can you see the glow of the circle?"

"Aura? What aur… " Becky ranted, then she asked in astonishment, "You see it too?"

Alyssa nodded sagely. Negi also nodded. Becky looked back for a while.

"No one in this room, save for the three of us, can see the glowing circle," Alyssa explained, "or the fact that it has glowed brighter since your group came in…"

The fact that Becky, a non-magical being could see the magic circle worried Negi somewhat. Judging from what Alyssa was saying, he suspected that she was going to tell the same thing to Becky, that she was a chosen one. Be it true or not, Negi could not be sure but he knew he did not want Becky involved in magic. It could be too dangerous for a young, untrained girl such as her.

Plus, she should not learn about the presence of magic.

Thinking fast, Negi grabbed Becky's hand, surprising her. Then he pulled her back to the group.

"The group will be gone soon. Let's go, Becky-chan"

"It's okay. Remember to keep a look out," Alyssa said to them and turned back to the wall, as if she was continuing her interrupted readings.

The group soon left the cave and the guides then led the group back to the school compounds to a place where there was a circular barricade in the middle of an opening.

Negi did not paid attention to what the guides had said regarding the place, his mind was occupied by what Alyssa had told him.

To be told that he was some chosen one to bless mankind was too fantastic, too sudden. While magic certainly exist, he was living proof of that, there were things that even the magical community found impossible.

Prophecies for one thing. Prophecies were regarded as too random and too improbable to be actually useful. Most prophecies were proven untrue but those that actually did come true were considered legends by itself. A prophecy that involved himself was too much for Negi to believe.

Despite that, what Alyssa said about the circle was true, in the entire cavern, only the three of them noticed it. While Negi still had doubts about her words, Alyssa was serious enough to get her points through. What she said might be the truth.

What truly worries Negi was her warning that people after them was gathering around Fuuka. No warnings should be taken lightly. If that was true, everyone in the school would be in danger because of their presence.

If the forces were after them, that would meant that they would also be after Becky, who would have been told by Alyssa that she was a chosen one if not for Negi's intervention.

He had best consult his students back at Mahora regarding this. They might be able to find out something about this prophecy from the Hidden Library. Plus if there was an attack on either of them, the ability to summon his students via the Pactio would be an asset for them to fight back.

The tour soon ended as the tour guides left the group to their own. It was about mid-afternoon.

As Negi walked Becky back to the hostel, he was deep in thought on what to do.

"See you later, Becky-chan," Negi said with seriousness in his tone when they reached her room, "Watch out for danger. I will come to get you. If you sense anything wrong, do not open the door to anyone, even for me."

"Okay, okay… Bye, Negi-kun" Becky answered quickly and closed the door to her room.

Negi walked back to his room, thinking deeply about prophecies and destinies.

On entering the room, Saotome was already present, talking animatedly to Takahata about something. Chamo was sitting on Takahata's shoulder. Mesousa was still no where to be seen.

"How did it go?" Takahata asked Negi when he noticed Negi's entrance.

"Did you do anything to Miyamoto?" Saotome switched to his fierce mode and questioned Negi like how a police would question a suspect.

Negi did not answer; still lost in reviewing his thoughts on the last few days.

Between his interest and concern for Becky and the prophecy that Alyssa claimed that he was part of, his life just became a lot more confusing.

"He is hesitating! He is hesitating!" Saotome said in mock hysterical, "Seriously, Springfield-san, what did you two do?"

"We saw the different facilities of the school and …" Negi _said, trying to recall where they went after the excavation site._

Saotome was acting like a strict father of Becky. He would want to impose a curfew on her next. He did not say anything. He merely looked at Negi with suspicion in his eyes. Then he bided his farewells to Takahata.

Negi suspected that Saotome might be going to check on Becky's well being.

Negi went to his luggage and took out a small set of cards with pictures of his students on it. He took the one at the top, the one that featured a girl holding a huge sword and put it to his forehead.

'_Telepathia'_ he said, then he continued, 'Asuna-san, Asuna-san, can you hear me?' He concentrated mentally on the image of his student and elder sister figure.

There was no answer.

Negi took another card, this time of a girl holding a book before her. Doing the same thing, he tried to call for Nodoka.

There was still no answer.

He tried all the cards but there was no answer for any of them.

"Strange," Negi said to himself, "It was not possible that all of them would ignore me. The telepathy connection through the cards did not seem to be working."

Takahata who was looking at Negi's actions asked, "Trying to contact the students?"

"Yes," Negi replied, still trying the cards, "But these Pactio Cards did not seem to be working."

"Try the phone, Boss." Chamo said from Takahata's shoulder.

Negi picked up the telephone in the hostel as dialed the number for Asuna's mobile.

There was no dial tone.

Something was wrong. Somehow all the communications to the outside, through magic or technology had been blocked. This only served to elevate Negi's worry about the possibility of Alyssa's warning.

Seeing Negi's worried look, Takahata asked, "What's wrong?"

Negi told Takahata and Chamo about Alyssa's warning that Fuuka might come under attack soon.

"We could not deny the possibility," Takahata mused, "Some of Japan's best educationists have gathered here, a strike here would cripple Japan's education system a lot."

Negi looked at the clock, night has fallen. Something suspicious was going on and he did not like it.

"I'm going over to Becky's. Something is going on, it would be safer for her if I was by her side," Negi excused himself as he concentrated on his magical staff.

A long wooden staff flew from his luggage to his open palms.

"Enjoy, I would stay alert here," Takahata waved his goodbyes as he took another cigarette from his pocket.

"I'm going too, Boss!" Chamo said as he leapt down from Takahata.

"No!" Negi stopped Chamo, "You will probably remind her of the cruise incident. You should stay here."

"Whatever you say, Boss," Chamo signed, "Good luck!"

Negi put on his robe, took a couple of alchemic potions and left the hostel.

Once outside, seeing that there was no one around, Negi sat on his staff and flew off in the direction of the female hostel.

On reaching his destination, he slung the staff onto his back and walked to Becky's room.

He knocked on the door and waited.

To his horror, the door swung open. It was not locked.

He entered the room carefully. There was no one in there.

The realization slowly came to him. His worst fear had occurred.

Becky was missing.

* * *

_End Chapter Three_

* * *

It was evening. Mesousa was in hiding again. 

For him, he had been less than happy with the reunion with Chamo. Within the first day, they had already gotten into trouble with the nuns in the church, the girls in the changing room, the teacher in the classroom, the boarders in the hostel, who knows how much trouble Chamo got him into?

This time, Mesousa decided to hide from Chamo. Of course, not all the way, he did not want to be left alone on unknown grounds. Just long enough to avoid Chamo's natural ability to attract trouble to him for the day.

He had picked the most isolated room in the area he could find. The setting sun shone its evening glow into the empty classroom. There was little here, just a single laptop on the front desk. Mesousa figured that no one should come in for now.

Sitting down at a corner, he remembered the slightly-happier times he had with Rebecca in Momotsuki.

"Ichigo-san will be seated there,' he visualized the eccentric girl seated at one of the seats in the middle, "and Momose-san will be with me in the rabbit hutch…." Mesousa tried to fight back his tears of loneliness. The only company he had now was that troublemaker Chamo.

Then the door slammed open. Mesousa's hard earned peace was shattered as a girl with long dark hair and a fierce glare entered the room.

She strode to the laptop, murmuring unheard curses to someone. Mesousa tried to make himself look as small and as harmless as possible.

Then the girl paused. She had noticed Mesousa. Mesousa trembled with fear as he took a peek at the girl.

A look of annoyance slowly vanished, replaced with a look of bliss. "Bunny…" she said slowly with a foolish smile.

Mesousa tried to say something.

Then, she quickly shook off that smile. "Get out as soon as you can," she just said gruffly.

At least, Mesousa could stay for now. The girl did not seem intent on doing anything to him.

Soon other students streamed steadily into the room. A young man with spiky, orange hair; A busty girl with short, orange hair clinging on to him; A quiet-looking, bespectacled girl with an arm-band that say 'Executive Director' and a laptop in her hands; A young boy with brown hair.

"Natsuki-chan, there's no need to walk so fast ahead," the busty girl whined to the original girl.

"Because judging from the warnings that Miyu had given, we will be having a crisis in our hands soon. Time is of the essence. And since, you, Mai is not of the committee, can you leave?" Natsuki replied frustrated.

"I am just here to accompany Tate," Mai referred to the young man who was looking at the ceiling to avoid the glares, "I can also help too, like how Tate helped the committee in the past," she said.

"Onee-san…" the other boy tried to say.

"Takumi, that's not how you treat your sister," Mai chided the boy with mock seriousness.

"President…" the girl with glasses asked, "What is the rabbit doing here?"

All eyes looked to Mesousa again. He tried to look cute, maybe it might work again.

"Nevermind, Yukino. Leave him alone," Natsuki said, "Everyone, please get to your seats so we can start proper."

The door opened again, this time a teacher with long, red hair entered the room.

"Chie told me that you are looking for me," she asked Natsuki.

"Nice to see you can make it, Midori," Natsuki answered, "Take a seat. You should know about what is happening."

"Miyu had warned that SEARRS communications have increased significantly recently," Natsuki started once everyone was seated. "We believe that they might try to attack Fuuka again, and with the teachers from the convention still around, it could lead to a high amount of damage control and problems."

"President?" The small voice of Yukino can be heard, "I think you spoke too late. You better see this."

The committee crowded around the small computer screen of Yukino's laptop. Mesousa approached the group and took a peek. There was a live video playing on the screen.

A couple of armored vehicles had rolled into a garden full of flowers, leaving tracks of crushed petals in their path. Personnel in black military suits were exiting from the vehicles in large numbers, quietly making their way to the school compound.

The group stared at the screen for a while as if they expected someone to appear on screen to kick the vehicles. After a while, the annoyed voice of Tate sounded out, "Must they do that all the time? It took an entire year to re-grow that entire garden the last time they did that."

"At least it seemed a lot smaller in scale compared to the last time. They might be trying the quiet approach this time," Natsuki studied the men walking around in the screen, "Luckily, we had live surveillance."

"Mai! Go and gather the members of the Kendo Club, Archery Club and all the martial arts-related clubs! These men did not seem armed; we might be able to scare them away before the teachers found out!" Natsuki gave the order.

"Yes, madam!" Mai quickly answered and ran to the door.

As soon as she opened the door, she fainted to the floor with a 'Thud'.

The committee turned to the door. An old bearded man in a trench coat stood at the entrance.

"Good evening, my ladies," he broke into a smile and said in a heavy German accent, "Please do not bother to contact the outside for help. We have cut all communication links, magical or technological already. I would appreciate it if you stay where you are and answer a few questions."

Mesousa recognized the voice as the voice in the boiler room on the cruise. He started to shake in fear with the memory. What was his name back then?

He took out three photographs from his pocket and showed them to the stunned committee.

Mesousa could recognize the faces on them. Rebecca, Chamo's master and the girl who spared his life in the church. He could also sense the dark, demonic aura that the old man was exempting.

He feared for the worst. 'I'm going to die,' was all he could think.

Apparently the others could also recognize the faces as their faces revealed.

"What did you do to my sister?" Takumi asked with anger.

"She merely took a little sleep. No permanent harm has been dealt to her," the old man said.

Takumi had raised a fist at the old man, ready to punch him. The old man shot a dark look at him.

Mesousa looked with horror as Takumi just slumped down onto the floor. He knew it was a fainting spell that the old man had cast on him.

"Now that the brat is quiet, may I know where in this school are these children?" the old man asked politely.

The rest that were still standing looked at each other. Their eyes seem to be agreeing on an unspoken plan. Mesousa could see Tate closely inching towards a shinai that was leaning against the wall. Natsuki's hand was moving towards a desk drawer.

Then without a warning, Midori made a run for the open door.

The old man turned back to try and stop her.

But he was hit by a single kendo strike at the cheek. The old man staggered back a couple of steps. His concentration was broken just long enough for Midori to escape.

Mesousa felt himself lifted up by his ears.

The old man turned back, a single stream of blood flowed from his nose. He was faced by Tate holding a shinai in a kendo stance and Natsuki holding Mesousa like a grenade and a single air pistol aimed at the man.

"You will have to get through us first," she said fiercely. Tate nodded in agreement.

A rose appeared in the old man's hand as he smiled brightly. "I do like my woman fiery," he said as light seem to reflect on his teeth to produce a sparkle.

Natsuki shot the old man at the head, the old man staggered back in pain again but the smile was still on his face.

She then flung Mesousa at the old man. The old man side-stepped and dodged the flying rabbit.

Mesousa heard Natsuki shouted, "Bunny! Go with Midori and escape!"

He landed outside the room with a crash. He then quickly picked himself up.

Midori was already halfway down the empty corridor. Somehow she managed to have gotten herself a long scrubber to defend herself. Mesousa quickly ran after her as fast as his little rabbit legs could go.

Behind him, he heard the sound of two bodies falling on the floor, followed by a resounding scream from the room.

Mesousa ran even faster.

* * *

_End Chapter Three Point One_

_To be continued_

* * *

There! The attack has finally begun and the stage is set for more action. 

I would like to thank all those reviews that I have received so far. They have been most encouraging and a useful cattle probe and ego booster for me should I ever get lazy.


	4. Enemies of the Past

Nothing, nothing (save for the story itself) in this story belongs to me. Enjoy.

* * *

The soldiers had dragged the furiously struggling Rebecca into a gymnasium. 

They had not bothered to tie her up or anything. They probably figured that a small child like her would be not able to escape, especially when there were soldiers surrounding her and keeping watch on her.

Rebecca felt both angry and scared at the new turn of events. Anger at her own capture and fear for the unknown motives of her capture. Currently, anger came first.

The soldiers were all staring at her emotionlessly, their dark visor obscuring their eyes. One of them motioned to a single chair before him, evidently commanding Rebecca to get seated.

Rebecca stubbornly refused, giving the chair a good kick. The chair slide away in another direction. Rebecca had decided to remain defiant and refuse everything. These people had no right to drag her away from her room. So she stood in the centre, arms akimbo and a furious glare on her face, tapping her foot on the ground in an inconsistent rhythm just to annoy her captors.

The soldiers shrugged in apathy and continued keeping watch on her. But her tactics seemed to be working since the soldiers were starting to fidget out of boredom.

A new figure had appeared at the entrance of the hall, accompanied by a couple of the soldiers. He struck a regal form as he walked towards her with all the confidence in the world. He was a foreigner, a badly combed hairdo, a sharp nose with thin-rimmed glasses mounted on it. His eyes were small, slanted like that of an eagle that has sighted its prey.

He must be the commander of the soldiers since they all quickly made a path for him. The man approached Rebecca and stood before her. A smug smirk appeared on his face. Rebecca glared at him.

"Feeling defiant, Ms. Rebecca Miyamoto?" The man said with a snide tone.

Rebecca knew she disliked this man immediately, she disliked his looks, she disliked the mocking tone in his voice, most of all she disliked how he was looking at her like a prize. She resisted stomping on his inviting toes for now. She still needed to find out more first.

She turned up the intensity of her glare.

As the soldiers tried to avoid her look by looking away, the man was unperturbed. He remained calm, looking at Rebecca straight into her face.

"Sorry for the lack of hospitality. My name is John Smith, head of intelligence of SEARRS. You must be wondering why we have you here," he said, not missing a beat despite Rebecca's foot tapping.

"Lower-life form," Rebecca said.

"Have you ever wondered about genius?" John Smith continued, taking the insult in his stride, "Is it a product of hard work? Is it a talent? Or could it be a gift from a higher being?"

"Scarecrow," Rebecca said, fully intent to continue insulting him.

"For some, more specifically you, it is precisely so," Smith made his point, "You know about the recently unearthed prophecy?"

"Bloody Bastard" was Rebecca's answer.

"No, no, no. Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never do so," Smith said, unbothered, "According to legend, seven Apostles will descend to Earth, blessing all with hope, BUT" he emphasized, "this is reality."

"Foreign Devil," Rebecca replied.

"These Apostles do exist but of course, they do not conjure miracles here and there," Smith said with a pause for thought, "though magic comes close. Instead they are blessed with Genius from God, to help mankind, to aid the world, to ease the transition to the new age."

Rebecca was listening of course, but she was not impressed. "Simple minded criminal," she added.

"For example, an apostle skilled in the field of robotics would be able to bring the overall robotics technology we currently have to new heights…." Smith did not stop, "You might have noticed the increased fantastic activities in the recent ages. We at SEARRS know the truth."

Rebecca paused for a while. Her insults did not seem to be working. She would have to get personal.

"We know of demons that can manipulate the power of existence, we know of the presence of highly advanced robotics in a certain town of Japan, we know of mages such as your friend, Mr. Negi Springfield."

Rebecca was surprised to hear of Negi being mentioned. Did this foul man just said Negi was a mage?

"The new age is coming, Ms. Miyamoto. An age of wonders; an age of fantasies. Coming back to the apostles… what if we bring these seven apostles under a single leadership, that person, or for us, this organization will be able to control these advancements of mankind. We could make this new age, the Golden Millennium of the SEARRS," his eyes widened in glee. But he did not laugh maniacally like others would. He was cool, calm, collected, and that was scarier.

Rebecca decided to try insulting his looks. "What an ugly nose. You look like a witch, you should go for a nose job," she said.

She sighted a twitch in Smith's eyebrow. That worked.

"And you, Ms. Miyamoto," Smith said between gritted teeth, "are an Apostle. We have been observing you for quite some time already and very positive about it. You and the rest, once we located them, would be necessary for our plans."

Rebecca tried harder, "You're balding."

Smith's face turned a strange shade of red. She quickly suppressed a laugh.

"You think you are winning, Ms. Miyamoto," Smith snared, "I beg to differ."

Rebeccca replied, "Your Frankenstein hairdo did not help."

A couple of soldiers were now trembling, probably giggling. Smith cast a sharp, furious look at them.

"You insolent child," Smith growled, "If not for the fact that we need you alive and willing…"

Rebecca decided that now would be the best time to do it for maximum impact. She brought her foot on his toes in a well-targeted stomp.

Smith howled in pain and anger as he bent down. Rebecca considered kicking him in the groin but decided not to push her luck too far. The soldiers were still around, escape was not possible. She whistled innocently as she looked around her.

"Guards! Keep her in her place!" Smith raged, "I will force you to obey," he glared at Rebecca before he quickly limped away while feeling his hair with his other free hand.

Rebecca was back to square one, surrounded by intimidating soldiers at all sides. At least she learnt more about their plan. They claimed that she was part of that ancient prophecy but she was unconvinced. What interested her more, was that Smith had called Negi a mage. If that was true, that could explain how he managed to break the lock back then.

Then, there was her present situation. She began to worry for herself; she just realized that just because they need her alive did not mean they could not do other things to her. The threat of John Smith still hung in the air. A couple of the soldiers were already pointing to her, leering at her with an ugly grin. She could feel her brave front crumbling.

Rebecca was not a religious person but she begun to pray silently for help. Any help. Just get her away from this place immediately.

At the corner of the eye, she spied someone sneaking around at the outside of the building. Someone in gym clothing.

It seemed that Saotome was on his way to check on Rebecca. On seeing her capture, he had managed to follow the captors to the hall and was now observing the situation from the window outside.

He had noticed that Rebecca had seen him. He made frantic hand signals to her.

Rebecca was never more glad to see him. She may not be the easiest of colleagues to get along with, but Saotome had stuck with her through thick and thin. She could feel the tears of gratitude swelling in her eyes.

Saotome made even more frantic hand signals. He was repeatedly pointing towards the exit with a quick, forward action. It seemed that he wanted her to run for it.

Before she knew it, Saotome threw a gym rope down from the window and came swinging down with a bokuto in his hands. Such an action could not be ignored. The soldiers present started to move towards Saotome who was swinging the bamboo sword around him. He managed to take down one soldier.

Rebecca understood what he meant. With the soldiers distracted by Saotome's surprise entrance, she ran for the entrance as fast as she could.

She could hear shouts and sounds of struggle behind her. Then, shouts of "The brat's escaping!"

She ducked to avoid the arms of a soldier and made it out of the gymnasium. An entire field lay before her.

She continued to run with no destination in mind. More and more soldiers were behind her heels. There was no way Saotome could have won anyway, he was vastly outnumbered.

The soldiers were getting closer. Rebecca felt her little body get exhausted.

There was no way she would just agree to be captured again. Saotome's sacrifice must not be in vain.

She felt herself slowing down. Cursing her past disdain for physical education, Rebecca tried to spur herself to go faster. The soldiers were drawing even closer.

She could feel those swelling tears just now coming out. A soldier had almost managed to grab her ponytail.

Out of desperation and fear, she heard herself scream.

"NEGI!"

There was an explosion behind her. Everyone in the chase stopped to look. A couple of soldiers had been flung back due to an explosive force.

Like a miracle, Negi descended from the sky, sitting on a long, wooden staff. A couple of energy balls hovered around him like fireflies.

He landed before Rebecca and held the staff before him, positioning himself between her and the advancing soldiers.

"Becky, are you okay? Did they harm you?" he asked as he kept a vigilant eye on the soldiers. The soldiers had the sense to start to surround them.

Rebecca cowered behind Negi and shook her head. "Not yet," she whispered in fear.

Negi looked worried. He drew his hand back, like he was ready to cast another spell.

"How much do you weigh?" he asked Rebecca.

Before Rebecca could answer, Negi said, "Never mind, I got a rough idea anyway. After I cast my spell, hold on tightly to me, we're flying off."

He was about to start the enchantment when the rumbling sound of engines could be heard coming from a distance.

All heads turned to the direction of the sound.

A rover was approaching them at full speed. A red-head was at the driver's seat. It was the teacher who insisted on being seventeen, Midori.

When it became apparent that the rover was heading towards them, the soldiers started to scatter in panic to avoid the crazy driver.

The rover screamed to a halt before them.

"Get on!" Midori ordered to the surprised children.

The soldiers were re-grouping fast. Some of them had begun to take out their handguns. While they were under orders to keep Rebecca alive, they had no qualms about killing Midori.

They quickly scampered onto the rover. "Go! Gakutenou!", she shouted as she started the engines again.

"Force of habit," she added sheepishly at the surprised look of the children.

The rover sped away from the place into the deep forest, gunshots could be heard but luckily none of the shots hit.

Now in the safety of the rover, the impact of the events finally caught up with her. Rebecca sat down, drawing her knees to her chest. She had a stunned look on her face.

Igarashi would still be outside the academy so she might be safe. But Saotome could be….

Rebecca dared not think of the possibilities.

Negi placed the robe he was wearing on her shoulders. She clutched the robe and pulled it closer to her body, hoping for some comfort.

She then felt Negi's hand on her shoulder and the gentle pull. Her head leaned onto his shoulders.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," Negi said softly as he continued to keep watch of the passing scenery from the rover.

Rebecca finally let go of the tears of fear she had held back.

A small hand was placed on her knees. She looked over.

It was Mesousa. The rabbit was still trembling but he tried to maintain a straight voice, "Are…are…you ok…okay?"

She gave a small smile and said, "Hello, Mesousa. Nice to see you are back."

Somehow, they managed to lose the soldiers. Midori stopped the vehicle and signaled for them to alight.

"It would be too noisy to drive now, we will be walking to our destination from here," Midori told them, pointing her scrubber in the direction they were going.

So everyone followed her with no idea where they were going. A single ball of light, conjured by Negi floated before them as they walked under the cover of the dark forest.

At last, Midori stopped. The destination was at sight.

They were going to the church.

Midori looked around for any hostile soldiers. Apparently since the church was so far away from the academy itself, the soldiers had yet to start searching there. They should be able to stop here for the night to plan their next move.

Midori signaled the rest to follow her. They approached the church quickly.

Then Midori pushed the door of the church open carefully.

A candle stand came flying towards her. Midori expertly blocked it with her scrubber.

Sister Nao was the assaulter. On seeing that it was only Midori, she gave a sign of relief and said, "Stop scaring us, Midori. The tension was already high enough. Come on in."

Midori entered the church followed closely by Rebecca, Negi and Mesousa.

The church was in total darkness, the only light was that from the moon. Sister Miyu and Alyssa were seated calmly before the altar.

Once everyone was in, Sister Nao closed the door lightly and proceeded to bar it. Having completed her task, she took off her headdress and flung it away, revealing her long, red hair. She then walked towards the gathered group.

Rebecca and Negi sat on a bench of the church as Alyssa approached them and sat on the back of the bench before them, facing them.

Midori was talking to Sister Miyu and Sister Nao regarding an attack on the executive committee. Apparently a single old man managed to take everyone except herself out. She had only just barely escaped.

Sister Miyu sat emotionlessly, nodding at Midori's words while Sister Nao was fidgeting uncomfortably.

"At times like this, I wish we still had the Hime power," Sister Nao said as she anxiously clenched and unclenched her fingers, "Ironic isn't it, you," she referred to Sister Miyu, "and the little devil over there were the ones leading the SEARRS the last time; now she is the one being hunted by them."

"This is your 2054th reminder…" Sister Miyu said.

"Knock it off, you two," Midori broke them up.

"We would have to keep watch. It is only a matter of time before SEARRS arrived here, especially now that we have all three of their targets here," Midori said. They looked to where Rebecca and the rest were sitting together.

The children sat in silence, contemplating what had and would happen.

Midori waved the two sisters away to give the children some privacy.

Rebecca finally spoke. Her fears had given way to a form of determination and anger, quite similar to how she felt after the incident with Negi at the cruise.

She wanted payback.

"Negi, Alyssa, you two know something I don't. Tell me what am I and what is happening."

Alyssa looked to Negi as if she was looking for approval.

Negi signed and nodded.

"Miyamoto-san," Alyssa said, "Please recall what I said in the cave this afternoon."

Alyssa told her about the truth, of the prophecy, of the destiny, of SEARRS,

that they were three out of seven of the apostles.

Negi continued by telling her about the presence of magic in the world, that he was a mage.

When they ended the story, silence fell once again within the group.

"Becky," Negi asked with concern, "Are you fine? It is okay if you are scared or angry."

"So how can I fight back?" Rebecca asked.

Alyssa shrugged, she had no idea. She herself was probably helpless herself, relying on the two sisters to protect her.

"Well… there might be a way…" Negi started to say, "I can transfer part of my magic powers or mana into you to enhance your natural abilities and give you a weapon of sorts…"

Rebecca was interested; she was determined not to be a passive maiden of distress anymore.

"Fine," she said, "How do you do it?"

At her comments, Negi started to blush from his head to toes.

There must be a catch somehow.

Then Mesousa who had been conveniently forgotten till now, whispered.

"Pactio"

* * *

_End Chapter Three Point Five_

* * *

"BECKY!" Negi shouted as he exited the room. 

All the while, the same words were going through his brains, 'Becky is missing, she is in danger.'

"BECKY!" There was no response, not a single shout of anger or anything. The hostel was eerily quiet.

Negi went to the door beside Becky's room and knocked furiously. He could hear voices from inside but not one answered.

He tried the door, the door was locked.

He knocked again, this time with a lot more urgency in it.

"Go away! We do not have who you want!" Someone from inside shouted.

"What happened to the girl next door?" Negi shouted.

"Taken away by you bastards! Now, just leave us alone!" the shout replied.

Negi decided it was no use following up with the neighbours. He had best do the searching himself.

He went back into Becky's room and picked up the telephone.

There was still no dial tone. All communication links had been cut off.

Opening the window of the room, Negi sat onto his staff and took to the sky. Perhaps he would be able to see the bigger picture from up high.

He saw armored vehicles overrun the garden with personnel in black military uniform everywhere. They must be the ones that Alyssa was warning him about, and they had most likely taken Becky.

Negi felt anger swell in him but resisted the urge to cast a lightning spell on them immediately. He needed them to lead him to Becky.

He flew in the general direction where the stream of soldiers was heading.

They lead him to a large building which Negi knew was the gymnasium. At the same time, a man with blond hair was limping furiously out of the building. He was shouting to the soldiers, pointing in other directions. He must have been the leader.

As the man limped away to the command vehicle in the garden, Negi could see another man dressed in gym clothing, making some hand signals outside the window of the gym.

It was Saotome.

Before Negi knew it, Saotome leaped into the gym.

Sounds of struggle and shouts could be heard from the gym. Before long, a single young girl with pinkish-blond hair ran frantically out of the building, closely followed by soldiers.

'Becky!' Negi's mind registered. She was in danger.

Negi directed his staff towards the ground and accelerated his descend towards Becky.

The soldiers were closing in, one of them almost grabbed her ponytail.

Negi raised a free hand. "_Sagitta Magica Septendecim Sagittae Lucis_!"

Several bolts of energy ball went flying towards the group of soldiers behind Becky. The force of the resulting explosion blew some of the soldiers away.

Everyone stopped to look behind.

Negi took the chance to land before the stunned Becky. He held the staff before him in a protective stance, positioning himself between Becky and the recovering soldiers.

He kept a look out for the soldiers; they had started to surround them.

"Becky, are you okay? Did they harm you?" he asked.

"Not yet," he heard her whisper with fear.

The situation was worrying, the soldiers had them surrounded and were closing in. The only way to escape was up, by flying. He would have to cast a spell first to deter the soldiers for a while. He drew his hand back.

"How much do you weigh?" Negi asked Becky.

Then he remembered that he had carried her before, she was quite light.

"Never mind, I got a rough idea anyway," he answered himself before Becky did.

"After I cast my spell, hold on tightly to me, we're flying off," he instructed as he prepare to cast the spell.

Just then, the rumbling sound of engines could be heard approaching them, at a very fast speed.

Everyone turned towards the direction of the sound.

A rover driven by a red-head was approaching them fast. Negi could tell that she was the teacher who insisted on being seventeen, Midori.

It became apparent that the rover was heading towards them. The soldiers started to scatter in panic to avoid the crazy driver.

The rover screamed to a halt before them.

"Get on!" Midori ordered to the surprised children.

The soldiers were re-grouping fast. Some of them had begun to take out their handguns.

They quickly scampered onto the rover. "Go! Gakutenou!", she shouted as she started the engines again.

"Force of habit," she added sheepishly at the surprised look of the children.

The rover sped away from the place into the deep forest, gunshots could be heard but luckily none of the shots hit.

In the safety of the rover, Negi looked as Becky curled up to herself, looking into nowhere with a stunned look on her face.

He took off his robe and placed it on her shoulders.

She clutched the robe and pulled it closer to herself.

Negi instinctively placed a hand on her shoulder and gently brought her closer to him. Her head leaned onto his shoulders.

"Don't worry," he said softly, "I'll protect you."

He continued to keep watch on the scenery speeding past them. He wondered where Midori was bringing them.

Becky finally cried. Negi did not say anything; it was just not the time.

He then noticed the presence of Mesousa in the vehicle, placing a trembling hand on Becky's knees.

"Are…are…you ok…okay?" he asked.

She gave a small smile and said, "Hello, Mesousa. Nice to see you are back."

Turns out Mesousa had belonged to Becky in the first place.

Somehow, they managed to lose the soldiers. Midori stopped the vehicle and signaled for them to alight.

"It would be too noisy to drive now, we will be walking to our destination from here," Midori told them, pointing her scrubber in the direction they were going.

The children followed her with no idea where they were going. Negi conjured a single ball of light to hover before them, giving them a little light to illuminate their way as they trekked under the cover of the dark forest.

At last, Midori stopped. The destination was at sight.

They were going to the church.

Midori looked around for any hostile soldiers. Apparently since the church was so far away from the academy itself, the soldiers had yet to start searching there. They should be able to stop here for the night to plan their next move.

Midori signaled the rest to follow her. They approached the church quickly.

Then Midori pushed the door of the church open carefully.

A candle stand came flying towards her. Midori expertly blocked it with her scrubber.

Sister Nao was the assaulter. On seeing that it was only Midori, she gave a sign of relief and said, "Stop scaring us, Midori. The tension was already high enough. Come on in."

Midori entered the church followed closely by everyone else.

The church was in total darkness, the only light was that from the moon. Sister Miyu and Alyssa were seated calmly before the altar.

Once everyone was in, Sister Nao closed the door lightly and proceeded to bar it. Having completed her task, she took off her headdress and flung it away, revealing her long, red hair. She then walked towards the gathered group.

Becky and Negi sat on a bench of the church as Alyssa approached them and sat on the back of the bench before them, facing them.

None of them said anything. Each one of them contemplating the situation they were in.

Midori was talking to Sister Miyu and Sister Nao regarding an attack on the executive committee. Apparently a single old man managed to take everyone except herself out. She had only just barely escaped.

Sister Miyu sat emotionlessly, nodding at Midori's words while Sister Nao was fidgeting uncomfortably.

"At times like this, I wish we still had the Hime power," Sister Nao said as she anxiously clenched and unclenched her fingers, "Ironic isn't it, you," she referred to Sister Miyu, "and the little devil over there were the ones leading the SEARRS the last time; now she is the one being hunted by them."

"This is your 2054th reminder…" Sister Miyu said.

"Knock it off, you two," Midori broke them up.

"We would have to keep watch. It is only a matter of time before SEARRS arrived here, especially now that we have all three of their targets here," Midori said. They looked to where Rebecca and the rest were sitting together.

Midori then waved the two sisters away to give the children some privacy.

After a long period of silence, Becky finally spoke. There was a tint of determination and anger in her voice. It seemed that she had cried all her fears away already.

"Negi, Alyssa, you two know something I don't. Tell me what am I and what is happening."

Alyssa looked to Negi as if she was looking for approval.

Negi signed and nodded. His original intention was to keep her out of his world of danger. But at this point of time, there was no point in hiding the truth from her anymore.

"Miyamoto-san," Alyssa said, "Please recall what I said in the cave this afternoon."

Alyssa told her about the truth, of the prophecy, of the destiny, of SEARRS,

that they were three out of seven of the apostles.

Negi continued by telling her about the presence of magic in the world, that he was a mage. There was something liberating about telling her everything.

When they ended the story, silence fell once again within the group.

"Becky," Negi asked with concern, "Are you fine? It is okay if you are scared or angry."

"So how can I fight back?" she asked.

Alyssa shrugged. Negi suspected that she knew more than she was letting, he could sense the presence of a powerful aura around Alyssa.

"Well… there might be a way…" Negi started to say as he recalled about the Pactio system he utilized so many times back in Mahora, "I can transfer part of my magic powers or mana into you to enhance your natural abilities and give you a weapon of sorts…"

There was an interested look on Becky's face.

"Fine," she said, "How do you do it?"

Negi thought of the method he knew. To form the temporary contract, he needed Chamo to perform the ceremony and he would have to kiss Becky lips to lips.

Negi started to blush from his head to toes, he wondered if Becky would be willing to do so.

Then Mesousa who had been conveniently forgotten till now, whispered.

"Pactio"

Negi looked to Mesousa in surprise. Could the rabbit actually know how to perform the ceremony?

He listened on as Mesousa explained the Pactio system to Becky and Alyssa. About the temporary contract and how it was worked. About how the ceremony was done and about the kiss necessary to seal the contract.

When he finished, Becky was also red with embarrassment.

Negi ventured a question, "Mesousa, do you know how to perform the ceremony?"

Mesousa nodded his head. That solved one of the problems.

He looked to the other two girls. Becky was shuffling her feet as she looked down. Alyssa gave a straight look to Negi.

"I don't need it," she said, "I got my ways." as she look to Sister Miyu.

That left Becky. Negi looked to her once more.

"Uhm… I… don't mind…" she stammered, still looking down.

She raised her head and looked directly at Negi with a shy look on her face.

The both of them looked at each other with reddening faces.

Negi tried to say something but at that moment, noises could be heard from outside.

The door was being rammed.

They were discovered.

* * *

_End Chapter Three Point Nine_

* * *

Mesousa tried to recall the procedures for the Pactio Ceremony. He had never actually done it before but he had remembered studying about it long ago. 

"We're discovered!" Midori was shouting as she grabbed her weapon of choice, the scrubber, "Nao! Miyu! Get ready!"

Sister Nao had taken up the candle stand again. Mesousa shivered at the memory.

No. No. No. It was not time for self-pity. He stood in front of the altar and tried to visualize the magical circle on the ground. Moonlight shone onto him. He would be a savior, the deciding factor…

He then held the chalk up to draw the circle.

The chalk slipped from his hands and fell to the floor. "Wa…" Mesousa whined.

Negi stepped forward to protect the two girls and Mesousa, his staff ready to fight the intruders.

Mesousa tried to pick up the chalk. It slipped again and broke into two as it hit the floor.

It is hopeless. Hopeless… Mesousa thought. Despair caught him as he sobbed.

The ramming of the door became harder and more persistant. It was only a matter of time before the soldiers got through.

Alyssa picked up the chalk from the floor and looked to Mesousa. "Trace out the circle," She ordered, "I'll draw it for you."

Mesousa looked at her. The moonlight was shining its gentle light on her. She would always be his savior and he always in her debt.

He hurriedly started to move his hand on the floor. Alyssa followed his movement on the floor with the chalk.

The door gave way. Mesousa heard Negi shout "_Sagitta Magica Septendecim Sagittae Lucis_!"

The soldiers in the front were forced back by the exploding force of the magical energy balls.

The circle was half complete. Mesousa was trying his best to speed up but his hands refuse to stop trembling.

"Calm down," Alyssa said, "I'm trying to keep up." Mesousa slowed down to allow the girl to keep pace.

A couple of hapless soldiers barged into the church.

Midori wielded her scrubber expertly like a battle axe. The soldiers never knew what hit them.

The circle was almost complete. Alyssa was drawing the last symbol in the circle.

More soldiers were coming in. One of them managed to slip past the distracted Negi and almost managed to grab Alyssa. Sister Nao saw to him with a candle stand to his head.

The soldier would be waking up to a splitting headache.

Sister Miyu had joined the fray. She was going through the bulk of the soldiers like a tornado, at a speed so fast Mesousa could not see her weapon.

Alyssa finished tracing the circle. The circle had started to glow.

An old man in a trench coat now stood at the doorway, looking in with a disapproving look. Negi had a shocked look when he saw him.

It was the demon who attacked the student executives. Mesousa mentally said his last prayers.

"Count Herrman…" Negi murmured. Looked like Negi knew him.

The soldiers were now retreating en-masse, carrying their injured and unconscious with them. They did not want to be in the same place as him. Mesousa wished he could join them.

Mesousa quickly instructed Alyssa on the words of the Master of Ceremony. His nerves were near its end, he feared he would be too scared to say anything later.

Sister Miyu dashed towards the intimidating figure. Mesousa could now see that at where her left arm should be, there was now a saber.

The Count side-stepped her attack and got her from behind with a powerful punch. She was sent flying towards a wall.

Alyssa shouted to Rebecca and Negi, "Now is the time! Enter the circle!"

Rebecca entered the circle of light.

Negi was unsure if he should stay to support the fight.

"Just do it! We can hold him up!" Midori urged him.

Negi ran back and entered the circle.

Midori and Sister Nao went forward to fight the Count, swinging their weapons at him together. The Count blocked their blunt weapons with his bare hands.

"_Terrenus Pactum!"_ Alyssa said. Yellow light shone from the circle and engulfed the two children. Her part was completed for now.

The Count had cast his fainting spells on the two. Midori and Sister Nao slumped to the floor.

The two children were not doing it yet. They were blushing, hesitating. Once inside the circle, they were oblivious to the world outside the circle. Mesousa went mad with fear.

Alyssa stood up and faced the approaching demon. Her face was one of calmness, she had no fear.

Likewise, there was no haste in the demon's advance. He did not need to; he got all the time in the world.

Rebecca put her hands on the face of Negi. Both of them were in a strange dream-like stage.

Machine gun fire sounded off. Bullets ricochetted across the church.

Sister Miyu had recovered. Her saber was now a Gatling gun as she sprayed bullets towards the Count.

Mesousa ducked under a bench to avoid the stray bullets.

The Count lifted up an end of his coat to block the bullets. None of them hit him.

He pounced at Sister Miyu.

"Your mind spells do not work on me, I am not human…" Sister Miyu was saying as the Count took her by the throat.

Her gun transformed back into the saber as she fought off the Count. The Count brushed off her attacks and with a deft turn, threw Sister Miyu out of the way.

He then turned his attention back to the Pactio ceremony going on, specifically, he was looking most interestedly at Negi.

Under the moonlight, before the altar and the destruction around them, both the children in the circle took a deep breath. Negi put his arm around Rebecca and drew his face closer to her.

Alyssa faced the approaching Count with surreal calmness. There was no way she could fight back, Mesousa thought from under the bench as he looked with his blurry, tears-covered vision.

She removed the ribbon from her hair, her hair glowing brightly as energy currents gather around her. "Unleashed Artemis Mode," she whispered.

Sister Miyu burst back into the scene with renewed vigor. This time, her saber was glowing with the same unnatural glow on Alyssa's hair.

The children's faces were centimeters apart. There was hesitation again.

The Count did a graceful leap to avoid Sister Miyu's slashing. Then he stayed in the air as if he had wings. No. Mesousa took a better look, he had wings.

Mesousa mentally screamed for the children to hurry up.

Then they did it.

The circle reacted to the completion of the ceremony and bright, yellow light flooded the church, blinding all.

* * *

_End Chapter Four_

_To be continued_

* * *

I would like to thank ReddyRedWolf and Ultima-kun for helping me proof-read the previous chapter. I must have taken a lot of their precious time. 

Since I am a perfectionist, the moment I think your criticism is valid, I got no qualms of taking the chapter down to if neccessary, re-do the whole thing.

Here is a simple question: What do you think Becky's Pactio power should be?

Thank you for reading and enjoying the little project of mine.


	5. Decisive Confrontation

None of the characters in this story belongs to me. Please enjoy.

* * *

A kiss. 

Such a simple, delicate act.

Yet one of the hardest too.

Negi stood within the magic circle facing Becky. The world outside the circle was a total blur. He could vaguely hear screams, sounds of fighting but nothing matters.

Down here, within this circle, there was only the two of them.

He looked into Becky's eyes. She was returned his gaze, a tint of pale blush on her rosy cheeks.

Then, she looked down shyly, avoiding his face.

After a while, she looked back again. Looking dreamily straight into his eyes, as if she was studying his very soul.

This was not the first time Negi had done the Pactio Ceremony. Asuna-san, Setsuna-san, Yue-san… he had gone through the official ceremony with them before.

But this time… they were nothing like this time.

This one felt… different.

Becky placed her hands onto his face.

He looked to her, to ask her if she was sure about it.

She continued to look into his eyes, never faltering. That was answer enough.

They took a deep breath. Negi mustered his courage to put his arms around her.

There was no rejection.

He moved his face closer to hers.

She closed her eyes and waited.

They were so close now. Negi could hear slow, constant breathing, feel her warmth.

Finally, their lips touched.

The circle beneath them started to shine brightly, flooding the church with light.

They stayed in that position for a while.

Then as briefly as it started, the magic ended.

They quickly broke up, their faces red.

It was back to the harsh reality.

Negi looked back to the surroundings. The church was in ruins. Midori and Sister Nao were slumped in the middle of the church. Alyssa stood before them, looking at the fight with absolute calmness, her hair glowing bright golden.

In the middle of it all, Sister Miyu was fighting a one-to-one with Count Herrman. Even with her saber of light, she was having a hard time with the Count. The Count was dodging all her attacks like a veteran gymnast. It was no contest.

Alyssa looked back to them. A card was materializing in her hand.

"So, you are done." She stated.

She handed over the Pactio card formed, the proof of the contract to Negi.

There was the sound of a hard impact. The Count had landed a heavy blow on Sister Miyu. She fell crashing to the floor, the light fading from her saber.

Alyssa screamed as if she was the one being hit, her hair returning to its original color. She then fell to the floor unconscious. Becky went forward to support her.

Sister Miyu struggled to get up. "Alyssa…ojou…sa..ma…" she tried to reached out her untransformed hand to Alyssa. A shadow fell upon her fallen form.

The Count gave her a kick that sent her flying into a wall. Sister Miyu had no chance.

He then advanced towards the children in that slow, leisurely pace.

Negi put the Pactio card into his sleeves and got his magical staff ready. He was the only one left that stood before the Count.

He raised a hand to start casting the spell, _"__Cantu…"_

In a flash, the Count stood before him. Before Negi could finish casting the spell, he found himself skidding away from the Count's blow.

He quickly recovered and steadied himself. He then rushed forward to trade physical blows with the Count. Punch for punch, kick for kick, the Count was able to counter all of them effectively.

Negi felt a sharp pain in his stomach, there was a crack in there somewhere. The Count had landed another blow on him. He was sent slamming into the altar.

By the time he stood up, the Count already had Alyssa and Becky in his arms.

Clutching his chest, he faced the Count with anger in his eyes. He could taste blood in his mouth.

Becky was putting up a valiant struggle in the Count's arms but the Count showed no sign of relenting.

"I'm disappointed, Springfield," the demon spoke, "You have not seemed to improved much since the last time."

"I spared your life the last time," Negi said as he spat out blood, "I defeated you once."

"Only because you got help from that dog boy," the demon said.

Negi got back into a fighting stance and drew back his arm, "_Kenoteto Atrapsato De… " _Electricity started to gather on his hand.

"You wouldn't want to hurt your friends, would you," Count Herrman reminded Negi of the captives.

Negi stopped in mid-enchantment. He could do nothing. As long as the other two were in his capture, Negi was at the Count's mercy.

His posture slumped. The pain felt more prominent now.

"I'm leaving now. Catch me if you can…" The Count said as energy currents gathered around his feet.

"Where are you taking them?" Negi asked.

"I'm sure you had your ways of finding out," The Count replied as he looked to Becky.

"I look forward to our next meeting…" he continued as the currents surrounded him.

Then the currents disappeared, taking the Count and his captives with them.

Negi sank to the ground in defeat. There was nothing he could do except to nurse his injuries and wait more SEARRS attacks.

He just realized there was a crack in his vision; the fight had cracked the lens of his glasses. He took off his glasses to inspect the full damage. Then, he realized his hand was trembling too badly to do so.

He was still scared. The presence of the Count has invoked those deep buried memories in him. Somewhere in Wales, there was still a village, petrified in stone. He had no desire to provoke the Count into doing the same to the people of this school. He suspected the only reason keeping the Count from doing so was the presence of whoever hired him in this school.

Negi threw his glasses aside in frustration. Then he winced in pain. That action aggravated the pain in the chest area, he must have cracked a rib. He hung his head down in tiredness.

What the Count had said was true. There was no way he could win.

A single card fluttered down from his sleeves to the floor, before him. It was the Pactio card from before. A reminder of the ceremony before.

As Negi gazed at the card, determination grew in his eyes. There was no time to wallow in self-pity. They were waiting for him for help.

SHE would be waiting for him.

First, he needed to calm down and think clearly. If he had just run off now, firstly he did not know where they were; secondly he would be walking into a trap. SEARRS needed all of them alive, they would not do anything to them yet, at least that was what he hoped.

Mesousa crawled out from under a bench. The rabbit too was trembling in fear, he could barely stand. At least the little guy was unharmed physically.

There was still the unconscious teacher and sisters.

Supporting himself with his staff, he walked painfully towards Midori and gently shook her. Midori rolled over, snoring gently.

Negi looked to Sister Nao. She was already mumbling about all men being alike.

That left Sister Miyu. She had taken the worst hits from the battle, if she had been human, she would have died by now.

Sister Miyu was still conscious but she was trapped underneath some rubble. Once Negi blew up the rubble with magic, she stood up unsteadily. Her clothes were all tatters, exposing her synthetic skin underneath.

Her first reaction on being freed was to start striding unsteadily out of the church.

Negi stopped her.

"Alyssa Ojou-sama has been taken, I need to save her," she said, for once, Negi could detect urgency in her voice, "Do not stop me."

"No. Wait for me," Negi panted, "We do not know where the Count took them. Give me some time."

Sister Miyu looked at Negi, her computer brain processing the data.

"Fine. I'll use the time to do some self repair. Come with me," she said.

Negi followed Sister Miyu into the inner sanctum of the church where she handed the first aid kit to Negi. "You could use some repair yourself," she said as she walked out.

As Negi applied the bandages on himself, Sister Miyu returned with Midori and Sister Nao in her arms. She then placed them gently onto the beds in the room. She then took a toolbox out from under a bed and was about to walk away.

"What are you doing?" Negi asked curiously.

Sister Miyu turned back, "You don't want to see it. Sister Nao saw it once and refused to touch electronics for weeks." she then went into a small room in the back and closed the door.

Left to his own accords, Negi took out the Pactio card again. He had an idea what the Count meant when he looked at Becky and told Negi that he knew the means to find them.

He studied the card. "_Vegrandis Magister Ferociter_" he read the words. The picture… Negi allowed himself to smile. It would be interesting to see the results.

There was not much time to spare. He placed the card to his forehead and said, "_Telepathia_"

Concentrating on the image of Becky, he whispered, "Becky-chan, are you alright?"

"_Negi? How did you get in my head?"_ He could hear Becky answer in his mind.

"The Contract. It allows telepathy between us. Are you and Alyssa alright?" Negi explained.

"_Alyssa was still unconscious. But we're fine for now,"_ The voice of Becky resonated in his mind.

At least the girls were still fine. Negi signed in relief. But Negi knew he still needed to rescue them fast and force the SEARRS forces out of the school.

"Where are you all held?" Negi asked the vital question.

"_The old man brought us to the cave, the one with the glowing circle,"_ Negi heard Becky replied mentally.

"Stay calm, we're coming for you," Negi said and cut off the telepathic connection. He trusted Becky to be able to hold out until he reached the cave.

There was a little tug at his trousers. Negi looked down to see Mesousa.

"I… I..'m go…go…going with…you…" he tried to put up a brave front as he shook in fear.

Sister Miyu came out of the room. She was no longer in her habit. Instead she wore a leather dress that reached to her knees. "Do you know where Alyssa Ojou-sama was held?" she asked.

"Yes, can you lead me to the excavation site? They're there," Negi said as he put on his robe.

"Come with me," Sister Miyu said as she strode out of the church. Once outside, she traveled through the dark forest in leaps and bounds.

Negi grabbed the shaking rabbit and ran after her, ignoring the sharp pains he was getting. The forest was unfortunately too thick to fly through.

After much traveling, Negi found Sister Miyu crouched on the ground. Negi went beside her and knelt down. The cave was before them.

While in the afternoon, those before the cave were scientists and workers, now there were soldiers and armored vehicles at the entrance. It seemed that the invaders were using the cave as their command outpost.

Just then, they heard the loading of rifles from behind them.

"Don't move! Raise your hands and stay where you are!" they heard a man command loudly from behind.

They looked back to see two soldiers pointing their rifles at them. One of them was reporting back to their commander. The other was keeping a sharp eye on both of them as his rifle remained pointed unwavering at them. It would not be long before reinforcements arrived.

Sister Miyu and Negi looked at each other. Mesousa was waving his hands madly in the air, he had become hysterical. So much for his bravado but at least he tried.

With a swift movement, Sister Miyu's left arm transformed into a saber and beheaded the rifle heads of the soldiers. The soldiers stared at Sister Miyu in a combination of shock and awe.

There were shouts as flashlights could be seen approaching them.

"I'll take care of them and the rabbit; you go in first!" Sister Miyu shouted to Negi. Negi nodded and ran into the cave. He could hear the sounds of fighting starting behind him.

No one stopped him. Negi conjured a small light ball to light his way as he walked deeper into the cave.

It was not long before he could see the faint glow of the magic circle in a distance.

As he entered the cavern, he saw Becky and Alyssa were under the guard of a couple of soldiers with their weapons trained on them. Becky was giving her captors her best scowl of disapproval. Count Herrman was leaning menacingly against a wall at a side, surveying those around him with a dark look.

In the middle of the room stood a foreigner, the one that Negi saw left the gymnasium where Becky was held. His arms were wide spread, like wings of a bird. The he gave Negi a piercing look as he approached.

"Welcome, Mr. Springfield. SEARRS welcome you to the Golden Millennium," he crowed triumphantly.

They had been expecting him.

* * *

_End Chapter Four Point Five_

* * *

The Count let them down on the ground gently. They had re-appeared inside the cave of the excavation site. Rebecca could recognize the glowing circle below them. 

Rebecca immediately stood up to face him with an angry look. The Count towered over her, casting his imposing figure upon her. He gave her a quizzical look, like how most humans would look at a rabid poodle.

Taking off his hat, the Count gave her a deep bow and spoke in his deep, German accent, "I am sure Mr. Springfield would be on his way here. Do tolerate your situation for now since this place is surrounded by soldiers. There is no way of escape for you."

He then put on his hat and swept away to a far corner of the cave. Rebecca could see that the only entrance was guarded by a couple of soldiers. Unlike the gymnasium previously, there was no way others could have helped create a distraction. Unless they could teleport, they would not be able to escape.

She knelt down before Alyssa to check on her. Alyssa was still unconscious but her breathing was steady. She would be fine.

Rebecca sat down on the ground and considered her options. She was once again captured by SEARRS. She was sick of being the damsel in distress; it was as if some one had insisted on her getting captured all the time. At least this time, she was supposed to be able to fight somewhat because of the contract she made with Negi.

The contract… Rebecca was reminded of the ceremony. She touched her lips gingerly. She could not believe she had done it.

The ceremony had been surreal. The circle had bathed her with the warm, gentle glow. She remembered looking into his eyes… his head moving closer… feeling his breathing… the salty taste of sweat on his lips…

Rebecca's face was crimson red. She shook her head wildly, to shake out those thoughts. She was not thinking clearly at that time! That must be it! The stupid warm light had scrambled her brains! Rebecca assured herself, there was no way she would have kissed that pervert who took advantage of her at that time, and her first kiss too… even if he was cute… and kind of cool… and rescued her before…

She pinched herself at the cheek. There was a sharp, acute pain. It was not a dream… Negi, you will pay me back! She thought angrily with tears of embarrassment in her eyes as she waved her fist in the air. The Count and the soldiers were looking at her actions curiously. She shot them a harsh look, they quickly looked away.

Rebecca calmed down with the air of dejection around her. She shook Alyssa one more time. There was no response save for a murmur of disapproval. She was on her own.

"_Becky-chan, are you alright?"_ Rebecca heard the voice of Negi. She perked up, glad to hear his voice.

But looking around her, Negi was no where in sight and no one else seemed to have heard that. The voice had come from her own head.

Unsure of what was happening, Rebecca whispered, "Negi? How did you get in my head?"

"_The Contract. It allows telepathy between us. Are you and Alyssa alright?"_ she heard Negi replied.

"Alyssa was still unconscious. But we're fine for now," she answered. And how were you, she worried in her mind. She remembered the melee Negi fought again the Count, he had been badly beaten.

She heard Negi sighed in relief. He then asked, _"Where are you all held?"_

"The old man brought us to the cave, the one with the glowing circle," Rebecca answered.

"_Stay calm, we're coming for you,"_ she heard Negi.

"How about your condition?" she hurriedly asked out of concern.

There was no reply. He must have cut off the telepathic connection between them.

Stupid Negi! Rebecca cussed mentally. Just when she was worried about him, he had to go act hero again. That was so aggravating… so charming…

Rebecca struggled to stop her thoughts from running wild. 'He groped you! He slept in your bed! He took your first kiss! You're angry with him! Not attracted! Angry! Think angry! Angry!' she mentally ordered herself.

"Arrgh…" she shouted in annoyance to the air. Those around were looking at her again. When she glared back, they quickly swung their attention back to guarding their captives.

Alyssa stirred from her faint-induced sleep. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and gave a cute yawn. Then, she perked up as she looked around her.

"We're in the cave… we're captured… Miyu lost…" she said, looking to Rebecca for confirmation.

"Do state the obvious," Rebecca answered sarcastically, "Oh look, that Smith has arrived to welcome us."

Sure enough, John Smith had entered the cave. He looked at his two captives with glee in his eyes but he maintained a distance from them. Just far enough to avoid Rebecca's foot.

"Welcome back to SEARRS, my Golden Canary," he looked to Alyssa, "and my fiery little fiend." He snared at Rebecca.

"I am no longer a member of SEARRS," Alyssa retorted, looking straight back at Smith.

"But you still bear the name we gave you, Ms. Alyssa Searrs," Smith answered.

"SEARRS gave the order for my death. SEARRS left me for dead. It was the Valkyries, they who we tried to hunt down that saved Miyu and me and welcomed us back," Alyssa said softly but her voice rising along with her emotions, "We may still bear the mark of our past but we will never return to them again."

"Regardless, Ms. Searrs," Smith said coldly, "You will now co-operate with us or face the consequences."

"I will NOT work…" Alyssa tried to shout back but she was cut off by Rebecca.

"She said, she will not work with you again, baldy," Rebecca said coolly.

The cold exterior of Smith was cracking, Rebecca knew it.

"This is not your concern, Ms. Miyamoto," Smith snared, "You too would be under us whether you like it or not."

Rebecca took a deep breath to warm up. Then she shouted back,

"BALDY! I DARE YOU TO DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING! YOU UGLY WEAKLING! YOU EVEN TRIED TO ESCAPE FROM ME, WHEN I AM THE CAPTIVE! COME CLOSER! I DARE YOU! COME CLOSER!"

Rebecca paused for breath, her mind reeling on what to say next. Smith was livid with anger but he was constantly looking at where her foot was. He dared not come closer. "Chicken," she muttered just loud enough for him to hear.

Alyssa was looking at Rebecca with admiration in her eyes. She was impressed by her outburst.

John Smith struggled to reply but there was a ring on his mobile phone.

He picked up his phone and listened as reports came in regarding the happenings outside.

After some time, he smiled that malicious smile and put down the phone. Then he looked to the two girls with those hawk-like eyes.

"It seems that we are under attack by a girl with a saber for an arm and a young boy holding a large staff. We must ready our welcome!" he said to them. Rebecca gasped in surprise; she knew he was referring to Negi.

The soldiers led the girls aside. John Smith went and stood in the center of the cavern. Adjusting his collar and giving his suit a general dusting just like how a hawk would preen its feathers.

Soon, a small ball of light could be seen in the distance, coming closer.

Negi entered the cave holding his magical staff. With a wave of his hand, he dispelled the ball of light.

John Smith spread his arms and crowed, "Welcome, Mr. Springfield. SEARRS welcome you to the Golden Millennium."

Rebecca had felt relieved and happy to see Negi but that was soon replaced by frustration. Bandages could be seen around his body. The stupid boy was still badly injured but yet he had still insisted on being the hero and actually came alone. Where was Sister Miyu who was also in Smith's report?

Negi pointed a finger to Smith and said with bravado, "Your troops outside would not stand a chance against us. Call them back and leave the academy."

John Smith shook his finger casually, "I think not, Mr. Springfield. The chance to capture three out of seven of the apostles in one go is too good to pass. SEARRS would not give up so easily, especially since we have Graf Wilhelm on our side."

At the signal of John Smith, Count Herrman came out of the shadows and before John Smith. "I think you should go aside, John Smith before you get hurt," the Count warned Smith. "Think this as your payment," Smith smirked as he duly walked to a far corner of the cavern.

The Count bowed deeply to Negi and returned to his stance, "I hoped you have improved. Are you ready, Springfield?"

Rebecca could not believe that Negi was going to actually fight the demon alone, in that state. She stamped her foot, frustrated that she was actually concerned about him but then…

Without warning, she made a dash to Negi's side. The soldiers shouted but could not react in time. None of them went forward to get her back. They did not want to risk being caught under the Count's line of fire.

"Becky-chan," Negi said as he saw her running towards him, "You should… OUCH!"

Rebecca had given him a kick in his shin. Negi winced in pain.

"Idiot!" she scolded Negi, "You actually came alone despite your injuries."

"But, Becky…" Negi tried to say but stopped.

Tears were swelling in Rebecca's eyes.

"Strange," she said as she tried to wipe them off, "I did not want to cry…"

She then reached out her arms and hugged a visually stunned Negi.

"Idiot! How many times must you make me cry?"

Rebecca felt Negi placed a hand to her back and gave her some pats.

"There, there…" he said gently, "I'm fine. I can handle it."

Rebecca dried her tears. They had finally stopped. Then, she parted herself from Negi.

"I'm not going to let you fight alone," she declared, "We had that contract. Do it!"

"Are you sure?" Negi asked with uncertainty in his voice.

At the side, John Smith was shouting madly at the Count, "What contract? Why are you not attacking? Attack! Isn't that what you want?"

The Count shot Smith a dark look that silenced him and then he went back to waiting patiently. There was a small tinge of a smile on his face.

"I command you do activate the contract," Rebecca gave the order.

Negi signed and reached into his sleeves. He drew out a single card and said, "_Exerceas poteniam, Rebecca Mijamoto_"

Rebecca could feel power flowing into her. Her hearing was heightening. There were gloves… no, mittens on her hand, mittens with claws. Rebecca could sense the sharpness in them as she experimented with a wave. Her tail, so agile, so flexible…

Rebecca looked behind her.

There was a tail!

Rebecca felt at her head. She could actually feel cat ears. "Negi! What kind of sick joke is this!" she snared.

Negi scratched his head sheepishly and explained, "That is your magical artifact…"

She grabbed Negi by his collars, her face red with anger and embarrassment, "Are you trying to be funny?" she hissed.

"That… hurts… I didn't choose it…" Negi replied helplessly.

'Clap, clap, clap,' There was the sound of clapping.

They stopped arguing to look back at the Count. The Count stopped clapping.

"Sorry to interrupt your lover's strife but…" the Count started to say.

The squabbling pair broke up quickly, both of them blushing from the Count's comments. "We are not…" Rebecca tried to say.

The Count was changing. His limbs elongated. His trench coat bellowed out, forming wings. Horns were forming at the sides of his head. His facial features melted to become a smooth, shiny black circle with only eyes and a jaw.

Rebecca watched on, horrified by the transformation. The Count was now in full demon mode. The demon opened its jaws as magical energy gathered.

Negi pushed Rebecca away as he leaped away in the other direction.

The magical beam hit the ground where they stood previously. The cavern shook on the impact.

Rebecca found herself landing on all fours with all the dexterity of a cat. She snared angrily at the Count, the tail swished in the air furiously.

Negi took up his fighting stance with his staff before him.

The demon transformed back to its human form.

"Play time over. Let us begin"

* * *

_End Chapter Five_

_Neko-mimi-mode-desu!_

* * *

"Waa….." Mesousa screamed as he ran around in circles outside the cave. 

He had tried to be brave, to join in the rescue of Rebecca but at the sight of the rifle pointed to him, everything fell apart.

"Waaa…." He continued running, like a child pretending to be an ambulance.

More soldiers were coming. But as more came, more of them stopped in their advancement and slowly backed track. To them, a monster was approaching.

"Waaaahhh…." Mesousa waved his little arms frantically in the air.

Sister Miyu was going through the soldiers like dominos. None of the soldiers stood a chance against her graceful sword dance. Shouts of panic could be heard as the soldiers ran for their dear lives.

"Waaa…." "Bam!" Mesousa ran into a tree. He took a few steps back and fell to the forest floor.

"I'm hopeless… I'm a loser…. I should never have come…" he sobbed to himself.

There was the sound of loading rifle behind him again. Mesousa turned his head around mechanically.

A soldier had managed to sneak past the rampaging Sister Miyu and he was now pointing the rifle at Mesousa's head.

"Heh, at least I would have caught one of the intruders, even if he was only a rabbit," the soldier smirked.

Mesousa gave a small whine in protest. Sorry, Rebecca. Sorry, Negi. Sorry, Alyssa, my savior. Mesousa thought in his mind.

A powerful force hit the ground beside them, forcing the soldier to backtrack. Mesousa could not help but noticed that the force of impact had left an imprint of a fist on the ground.

They looked up. Before them was a middle-aged man with glasses dressed in a suit. A lone cigarette hung from his mouth as he slowly walked towards them. Both his hands were tucked inside his trousers pockets.

The soldier swung the rifle towards the man. "Halt! Who are you?" he shouted.

The man smiled. Another force hit a nearby tree. The tree crashed straight to the ground. The soldier had to duck to avoid the crashing tree.

"I think you should leave," the man said, "before you get hurt."

The soldier considered his options, threw down his rifle and ran away screaming like a baby.

Mesousa looked to the man with fear and tears in his eyes.

A white head of an ermine poked up behind the man.

"Mesousa! No wonder I cannot find you!" a voice rang out. It was Chamo.

"Chamo?" Mesousa tried to confirm. Inside his little bunny brain, he was considering if he should be happy to see Chamo or be even more fearful.

"You know this rabbit?" the man asked Chamo.

"Of course! He and I go way back!" Chamo said cheerfully.

The man knelt down and asked Mesousa, "Do you know where Negi is?"

Mesousa raised a trembling hand towards the cave.

The sounds of shouting faded in the distance. Sister Miyu strode back to Mesousa with thick, red liquid dripping from her saber arm.

The man looked at Sister Miyu and asked in awe, "Did you kill all the soldiers?"

"Of course not," Sister Miyu replied without emotion," Killing them would be a waste of my time. I merely gave them enough wounds to reconsider their attack."

The man stood up. "Shall we go assist Negi?" he asked.

Sister Miyu entered the cave without a word.

The man and Chamo joined her in the darkness of the cave soon after.

That left Mesousa alone outside the cave, in the dark forest.

Mesousa looked around in fear. Loud unknown screeches could be heard.

He scrambled to his feet and ran into the cave after them.

"Don't leave me alone…!"

* * *

_End Chapter Five Point Zero Five_

_To be continued_

* * *

Thank you for reading. The finale coming up soon. 


	6. Parting Feelings

None of the characters, as much as I wish otherwise, belongs to me. Enjoy the finale.

* * *

Cracks appeared on the wall after Negi was sent flying into it for the umpteenth time. Ignoring the growing pain, Negi leaped to his feet just in time to avoid the Count's solidifying beam. The fight was not going well for them. The Count was simply too strong. 

Becky was faring well in the fight, despite being inexperienced with the ways of magical combat. She had leaped onto the Count's back and clawed furiously.

Count Herrman grunted in pain and reached to his back to grab her by her arms. He then flung her forcefully into the cave wall. Given her new-found cat-like agility, Becky managed to hit the wall limbs first before leaping back into battle.

The Count morphed into his demon form and flew into the air. Opening his trap like jaws, magic gathers once again to shoot the solidifying beam.

"_Aeriocardio Valkyriam! Contbelaria Gladibaria! Age Capiav!" _Several wispy sword-wielding clones of Negi appeared by his side and leapt towards the Count.

With a slap of its wings, the demon dispersed the clones into the air. While he was distracted, Becky was on him again. Grabbing him by the horns, Becky forced his head upwards.

The Count shot the beam into the air, causing the cavern to shake violently as rocks fell from the top. Becky leapt off the Count just as he morphed back into his human form and fell to the cavern floor.

Once Count was back on the ground, Negi took the chance to start trading blows with him again. Negi concentrated on his opponent as he did as how Ku Fei had taught him. A punch to the stomach, an uppercut to the chin…

The Count blocked most of the moves, grunting in response for the moves that did hit. With a slap of his hand, Negi was forced back into the defensive.

The trio circled each other warily. The Count moved to punch Negi. Negi sidestepped to avoid the punch and lifted a free hand to cast another spell. The Count caught him on the reversal and Negi went sliding against the rocky floor.

Becky had pounced upon the Count, intent on catching him at the back again. The Count swung and got her with a kick. She skidded across the floor.

The Count walked forward and picked up his hat from the floor. "Is that all you got?" he said as he adjusted his hat, "I had expected more from one who defeated me once."

At the side, John Smith was smirking in delight at the sight before him. Alyssa was watching her fellow apostles fight in calm silence. The two soldiers who were supposed to be guarding her had ran for their lives when the cavern shook from the Count's attacks.

The two children struggled back to their feet and glanced at each other. Whatever they were doing, it was not working. They needed a plan.

The Count was on the offensive once more. In a swift movement, he was before Negi. Negi tried to defend himself but was forced back to the wall. The Count opened his jaws once again.

Becky leapt forward and pushed Negi to the ground as the beam shot out.

"You defeated this monster once!" Becky asked as they scrambled to their feet.

Negi nodded as they dodged another of the Count's attack.

"And you can barely fight him now!" she said in disbelief.

Negi could not say anything to defend himself. "I need time to cast that spell that can defeat him…" he finally replied.

"I'll distract the demon, you just cast whatever that big, explosive spell is at him," she whispered hurriedly to him as she raced to the other side of the cavern.

The Count threw a punch at Negi as Negi dodged to avoid it. Just as the Count was about to follow up with a kick, Becky's voice rang out.

"HEY OLD MAN! YOUR FASHION TASTE SUCKS! YOU LOOKED MORE LIKE A FISHERMAN!"

That caught his attention. The Count turned towards Becky. "What did you say?" he growled. Becky's slap caught in at the cheek. Her claws left scratch marks on the Count's cheek.

"I DARE YOU TO COME GET ME, OLD MAN! HIT ME WITH THAT FISH BREATH!"

Becky shouted as she prepared to make a leap.

The Count punched the air, sending shockwaves towards Becky. Becky leapt out its way. The cavern shook on the impact on the wall.

"YOU MISSED, BAD BREATH! COME ON!" Becky continued to taunt the Count to draw his attention.

The enraged Count unleashed a fury of punches at Becky's direction, sending shockwaves across the ground, missing all the time as Becky leap around the cavern to avoid the attacks. Cracks zigzagged across the walls of the cavern. It was a matter of time before the cavern gave way.

"_Sagita Magica Septendecim Sagittae Lucis!" _Several magical bolts hitthe distracted Count. He coughed and staggered back. He turned his attention back to Negi.

With his back turned, Becky finally managed to catch the Count on his back. She forced her fingers into the Count's open mouth and pulled. The Count struggled to get Becky off.

Negi got ready to cast on last spell. "_Kenoteto Atrapsato…" _Electricity gathered in his hand.

Becky held on tightly to the struggling Count and forcefully steered him to turn away from Negi.

Negi moved his hand back, "_De Temneto…" _and leap forward at the Count.

With a kick, Becky released the Count and sprung to Negi's side. The Count staggered before him and turned around.

"_Dios Chucos!" _Negi brought the lighting down at the Count.

Smoke arose from the site of impact, obscuring the sight of those around.

Becky went to Negi's side and slumped down in tiredness. "Did we win?" she asked breathlessly. Judging from her heavy breathing, Becky could not last any longer.

They were both at their limits.

Negi stared intently at the dissipating smoke. The silhouette of the Count could be seen arising from the smoke. The Count was still standing.

Hearty laughter could be heard from the Count as he stepped out from the smoke. His trench coat was singed but he seemed barely harmed.

Negi was prepared to cast another spell when pain from his injuries coursed through his body. He clutched his side to press on the wound. Gritting his teeth, he tried to ready himself again despite of the pain.

To his surprise, Becky stepped forward to shield him.

"Go away!" Negi instructed Becky urgently, "You are too tired to take him on!"

Becky looked back with determination in her eyes and gave a tender smile, "So are you."

The Count made no attempts to attack. He stepped forward and fell to his knees.

"Wonderful! Simply wonderful!" The Count roared in laughter, "I underestimated you and your acid-tongued partner. That was a wonderful fight." He struggled back to his feet.

The children looked at him suspiciously as they quickly went back to their fighting stance.

"What did you mean?" Negi asked while maintaining his stance.

"Springfield, you spared my life once, and now I shall do the same to you… We're even now," Count Herrman conjured a rose in his hand and gave it to Becky in a gallant bow. Sparkles glinted from his teeth. "Is my fashion sense that bad?" he asked.

"Yes," Becky rejected the rose with a slap to his cheeks.

The Count had a satisfied grin as blood flowed from his nose.

He turned to John Smith and bowed deeply. "I am defeated and can no longer fight. I shall be taking my leave now."

"What did you mean? We had a deal!" John Smith asked, livid with rage. He cast a fearful look on Negi and Becky.

"I believe the deal was to get all three of them in the same room as you and the payment, a fight with Springfield," the Count said darkly, "As you can see, the deal had been completed."

He turned to Negi and pointed, "You have improved… but not enough… I will be back to try you again… And next time I've got no reason to hold back…" He then started to fade and dissipate like smoke in the wind.

"Wait!" Negi shouted to the Count.

The Count paused his fading for a while.

"Thank you."

The Count bellowed in laughter, "Et tu, Springfield" He cast his sparkling smile at the children and faded into the darkness. His laughter echoing throughout the cave before it too faded.

Negi and Becky turned their attention back to John Smith.

"SEARRS would not lose! Not to a bunch of children!" Alyssa was struggling in his grip. Smith had taken her hostage while they were distracted., "You will obey us! For the Golden Millennium cannot be denied!"

"Let her go!" Negi shouted to Smith.

"Never!" Smith spitted, tightening his grip on Alyssa.

Negi raised his staff to cast a spell at Smith when someone swiftly swooped down on Smith. In a flash, Sister Miyu went back to Negi's side craddling Alyssa in her arms.

Looking behind, Negi saw Takahata entered the cavern with Chamo and Mesousa in tow.

Smith looked at the growing reinforcements with fury. He moved his hand into his suit and raised a small mechanical device into the air.

"You will all go down with me!" he screamed maniacally. He had lost it.

Before anyone could stop him, he pressed the button on the device. Several explosions occurred at the roof of the cavern. Debris and rocks started to fall.

"Run! The cavern is caving in!" Takahata shouted to them as they had a dash for the exit.

Negi started to run but looking back, he saw that John Smith was not running. Smith was kneeling on the ground with an air of resignation in his face.

Without a thought, he ran back into the crumbling cavern and tried to drag John Smith along. John Smith struggled against Negi furiously. Negi signed and punched Smith in the face. Smith went down like a baby.

Around them, the cavern was falling apart. He was lucky none of the rocks were falling on him. Trying to take his mind off the growing pain at the side of his chest, Negi attempted to drag the unconscious Smith out of the cavern. Given his injuries and the additional weight of Smith, the progress was proceeding at a snail's pace.

"Why must you always insist on been a hero?" Negi looked up to see Becky back in the cavern. She had come back for him. There was a look of exasperation on her eyes.

Negi had no more breath to answer.

To his surprise, Becky grabbed Smith by his other arm. "Unless you want to be a dead hero, hurry up! We're going to be caved in soon!" she shouted.

Negi nodded and together they heaved the unconscious mastermind out of the cave.

As they reached the last lap of the cave, they flung themselves out onto the forest ground. The opening of the cave caved in behind them.

The cave with the prophecy was no more.

They continued to stay in their position, lying on the ground, surrounded by their allies. Too tired to move, too tired to talk, just glad to survive.

John Smith awoke from his concussion and leapt to his feet. He surveyed the surroundings frantically, surprised to be still alive.

He pointed a trembling finger to everyone and furiously cried out, "SEARRS will be back. I will get you all for this!" He then ran into the forest, making urgent phone calls for a tactical retreat.

Negi looked to all those present. Sister Miyu… Takahata... Chamo... Mesousa... Alyssa…Becky… He was grateful to all of them, for their presence and support.

The morning sun was rising, casting its warm rays and lighting up the forest.

A new day had dawned.

He started to feel groggy and sway slightly. Then he fell to his knees.

Becky quickly knelt down and held on to Negi.

Shaking him gently, she asked him with concern, "Are you alright?"

"Don't… worry…" Negi smiled to Becky, "Just… hurting…"

His vision was blurring, the pain in his side exacerbating.

He thought he saw those tears in Becky's eyes again.

Raising a trembling hand to her cheek, he wiped a tear off.

"Did I make you cry again? I'm sorry…" he said.

"No! I'm okay!" she forced herself to be cheerful as she wiped off her hot tears.

"Don't cry… That's… not the Becky… I know…" Negi murmured as he felt his eyes closing, "So… tired…"

He faintly heard a scream of his name from Becky.

He smiled and then darkness fell on him.

_

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_

End Chapter Five Point Five

* * *

Rebecca inspected her outfit in the mirror. She was trying her best to look as beautiful as possible. Without the presence of her elder sister, she had to rely on Igarashi to critic on her choice of outfit. 

Days had passed since Negi fell asleep in her arms outside the cave. Rebecca still blushed whenever she recalled her scream. It was such a romantic scene and Negi had to ruin it by starting to snore. She vowed that if that happened again, she would kick him at the sides.

She had been so scared throughout the whole ordeal that she was almost ready to go with Smith. It was by pure determination and Negi's presence that she managed to survive the fight and ran out of the collapsing cavern.

She remembered after Smith had detonated the bombs, running out of the cave frantically. When she discovered that Negi was missing, she knew that he must be trying to save that baldy. Logic told her to stay now that she was finally safe, but something inside her snapped.

Takahata had tried to stop her but she entered anyway. Seeing Negi trying his best to rescue the megalomaniac mastermind, her heart went soft. Rebecca still could not believe that she actually helped Negi to save the villain who had kidnapped her twice.

Negi was carried back to his hostel by Takahata with Chamo. The girls and one rabbit were left walking back to the damaged church. Alyssa had told Becky that SEARRS had suffered a terrible defeat this time and it would be years before they could muster enough strength to attack Fuuka again. By then, the three of them would be separated again, having returned to their home town, making such an attack not worthwhile. Rebecca remembered being quite downcast when she was reminded that they would have to separate eventually.

Rebecca had sighed in relief as Saotome later was found bound and very unhappy along with the rest of the student executive body of Fuuka. None of them were seriously hurt during the attack. Save for those that took part in the active fighting, there were no casualties during the SEARRS invasion.

Negi had the dubious honor of the one most injured during the invasion. Luckily for him, none of the injuries were too heavy and though he still walked around in bandages, he had recovered fairly quickly. The SEARRS invasion had come and gone in the night like a very bad dream. Life went on.

The destruction of the excavation site was considered a great loss to the archaeological society. While the archaeologists had wanted to re-dig out the site, under the protest of the Fuuka student executive body, they were denied the permission to do so. As Alyssa had pointed out, some prophecies were best left buried.

When Negi awoke from his slumber, Rebecca remembered being glad enough to hug him before starting her scolding to hide her embarrassment. She had ordered him to accompany her during the Tamayura Festival but throughout the festival, while she had fun with him, she never mustered enough courage to present the ribbon with her name to Negi.

The remaining days had gone by in a flash. While Rebecca never truly worked out her feelings for him, she knew that as much as she hated to admit it, she had enjoyed and appreciated Negi's company. Alyssa had remarked, "Ten years down the road, feel free to use this church for it," when she was giving them an autographed copy of her single each as a token of thanks. The hidden connotation in the remark was not lost to them as it sparked off another awkward blushing session between the two of them. Perhaps Alyssa had a sense of humor after all.

Their de facto guardians had more or less accepted their relationship. Even Saotome had done so reluctantly, though he had enforced strict curfew timings on her. Which only made it more thrilling to sneak out at night. Negi had mentioned that he would be in his room all the time, asking him what they did and what happened. Igarashi was very supportive of her, even covering for her during her night escapees.

Night was when Negi would teach and show her about magic in the forest or rooftop. It had been childishly fun twirling the little wand he had given her in the air and saying the magical chant. So far, Rebecca did not have much success with even the most basic spells but she had enjoyed spending the night under the tutorage of Negi. And that was enough. What she looked forward most was when she would hitch a ride on Negi's staff and fly under the moonlight with him.

Before they knew it, it was time to part. The Annual Teacher Convention had ended and they had to return to their respective schools. Negi would be leaving Fuuka via train so this would be Rebecca's last chance of giving him her ribbon since she would be leaving later via cruise. She would be meeting him at the train station to bid him farewell.

Rebecca fiddled with the ribbon on her hair. There, she was ready. Behind her, Igarashi gave the thumbs-up. Then with Mesousa behind her, she left for the train station.

Negi was already at the train station amidst all their luggage with Takahata and Chamo. Rebecca gave the ermine a mean look; she was not ready to forgive it for the incident on the cruise yet. Chamo scrambled to hide behind Negi.

"Oh, Becky-chan… you came…" Negi said softly.

Rebecca nodded shyly, unsure of what to say. The presence of Takahata, Chamo and Mesousa felt too invasive for her.

Takahata sensing that he was an obstruction bent down and told Negi, "I will be going ahead first, don't take too long." Then giving Rebecca a wink, he led Chamo and Mesousa away onto the train.

The two children looked around sheepishly, not knowing what to say.

"I…" they said together and then they paused.

"Ladies first," Negi said with a gesture of a hand.

The cool breeze was picking up around them. Rebecca's skirt fluttered gently in the wind.

"I… like to thank… you for all the fun these days," she stammered.

"Me too," Negi replied as he bowed to expressed his thanks.

It was now or never. Mustering her courage, Rebecca undid her ribbon from her hair and thrust them forward with both hands.

"This is for you!" she said hurriedly. Her long flowing hair, loose from the constraints of the ribbon swayed to the wind.

Negi hesitated and took the ribbon in his hands. He then looked at her name written on it. Judging from his confused look, he did not knew the significance of the ribbon.

Rebecca was expecting a much more dramatic reaction. Sulking in disappointment, she said, "I had wanted to give it to you during the Tamayura Festival but… If you don't like it, you can throw it away"

Negi looked up and smiled. "Thank you," he said gratefully. He then tied the ribbon to his staff. Rebecca looked at the ribbon bound to the staff, dancing in the wind, and smiled. The Tamayura Festival might be over but at least she had given him the gift.

Negi seemed to remember something and started to rummage through his luggage. He then took out a brown paper bag.

Negi first took out a card from his pocket and gave it to Rebecca. Rebecca saw that the card had a picture of her in the cat-form on it with her name and the words, "Vegrandis Magister Ferociter". She looked back to Negi for answers.

"This is a copy Pactio Card, a proof of the contract," Negi explained as they both reddened at the memory of the ceremony. "I had to convinced Chamo to make a copy of the original to give you… he was quite upset that I had gone ahead without him…" he continued.

"It will allow you to communicate telepathically with me, no matter how far apart we are," he looked to her. Rebecca nodded in agreement.

Negi taught her the basics on how to use the card. Rebecca then pocketed the card. It would be a useful gift for her though she would still miss the little gentleman.

"And…" Negi started to blush furiously. Rebecca wondered what Negi had in the paper bag. He held the paper bag forward to give it to her. "I'm sorry!" he said with genuine remorse in his voice.

Rebecca took the paper bag and peeked into it.

Inside were her panties. The one that went missing after their encounter on the cruise.

So he was the one holding on to it.

She felt her own face reddening as she recalled what happened then.

Instinctively she raised her hand and slapped Negi at his cheek.

Then she pushed the paper bag back into his hands.

"Becky-chan…" Negi tried to say, stunned by her move.

Rebecca looked away to avoid him seeing her embarrassed face. "I have not released you from slavery yet," she huffed, "Keep it. This way you still owe me one…"

She looked down to the floor. With a finger tapping lightly on her cheek, she added shyly, "This way, we got a reason to meet again…"

She looked back at Negi sheepishly. Negi was still blushing.

They went back to looking at the floor with blushes on their face, wondering what to say next.

An announcement rang out through the station. The train would be leaving soon. Passengers who have yet to board were advised to board now.

Negi looked back to Rebecca, "I have to go back to Mahora now. Good bye…"

Impulsively, Rebecca leaned forward and gave Negi a peck on his cheek.

Negi raised a hand to the cheek with surprise.

Rebecca shuffled her feet while looking at it and murmured, "Good bye…"

Negi smiled gently and took up his luggage, placing the paper bag back into it. He then ran towards the train. Stopping at the entrance of the train, he turned back and shouted, "Good bye, Becky-chan. I'll keep in contact!"

Rebecca raised her head with determination and shouted back, "I'll miss you!"

Negi waved their contract card in the air and boarded the train. As the sirens blew, the train moved off the station, leaving Rebecca standing alone at the platform.

Waving her hand at the leaving train, she felt those tears flowing out again.

She wiped them off quickly. 'It is not like we would not meet again…', she consoled herself.

Then she turned her back away and slowly walked back to the hostel.

As she strolled back, she took out the Pactio card. Looking at it, she smiled.

They might have separated but they would remain connected. There was no need to grieve or feel sorry. As long as they remain connected, their feelings intact, one day, they would meet again.

Rebecca signed and pocketed the card again. She could see Saotome and Igarashi waiting for her outside the hostel with the luggage ready. It was time for her to leave Fuuka. She looked forward to reuniting with her students in Momotsuki. Giving the academy one last look, she ran towards her older colleagues with a bright smile on her face.

_

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_

End Chapter Six

_The End _

* * *

That's the end of this story. Thank you for reading. I will be coming back occasionally to work out on some parts of this story once in a while so you might notice certains changes to it occasionally. Please feel free to email me on how the story can be improved. 

And a note, I had originally intended this to be a doujin but considering my amateur drawing skills, I let words do the talking. So for those aspiring artists who had liked this story, TAKE THE HINT!

Other than that, domo arigatou.

No wait... what about Mesousa?

* * *

Mesousa looked at the passing scenery from the train. 

'Finally…' he thought. He had survived cyborg nuns, perverted ermines, evil organizations, mercenary demons and (not so) trigger-happy soldiers. He wondered if his short bunny life could take any more excitement after this.

He looked forward to the rabbit hutch back at Momotsuki. The company of Kurumi, singing her soulful 'Ra,ra,ru' song with him. The peace and calm that he so longed for.

He turned from the window and walked down the carriage. It felt good to be leaving Fuuka. He would miss his savior, his angel of light, Alyssa Searrs but that could not be helped.

Home calls…

Wait a minute. Isn't Rebecca leaving via cruise?

Why was Mesousa on a train?

He recalled with growing horror, Takahata leading him onto the train…

'Oh no…' Mesousa sank to the ground in despair. He had not alighted from the train. He was going in the wrong direction. Worse, he was on the same train as the troublemaker Chamo.

He would have to look out for Chamo. Chamo had been somewhat upset that he taught Alyssa how to do the Pactio ceremony. It took a lot of convincing and a pay rise to pacify him.

"MY! Isn't that Mesousa, you coward! It has been a long time!" he heard a cheerful, energetic voice of someone trying to talk with his mouth full.

That was not Chamo. Mesousa had learnt to dread his voice. It was someone else familiar… but equally unwelcome.

Mesousa looked up to see a stuffed lion cub with wings before him. The plushie-liked lion was stuffing himself with a box of Takoyaki. There was a young girl with short, brown hair with him, peering at him curiously.

"Keroberos… They released you again…" Mesousa stammered to confirm his fears.

"Kero-chan, you know this rabbit?" The girl asked the stuffed lion.

"OF course! He and I go way back!" Keroberos continued to stuff his face with Takoyaki as he spoke, "In fact, Mesousa, we're on the trail on something big here! Since you are here, why don't you help out?"

Mesousa shuddered at what Keroberos said; Chamo had told Takahata the same thing.

The imposing sight of Tokyo Tower flew past the window.

Mesousa buried his face in his hands and wailed,

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

_

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_

Not The End

* * *


End file.
